Law firm wins food-poison suit
A 21-year-old woman represented by a Newport Beach law firm has won a $3.25-million jury verdict in a food poisoning case against a Dana Point restaurant.
An Orange County Superior Court judge has yet to rule on the verdict, which was handed down July 11.
Alexis Sarti, of San Clemente, suffered a rare form of food poisoning after eating an ahi tuna appetizer at the Salt Creek Grille. Bremer, Whyte, Brown & O’Meara LLP represented Sarti in the lawsuit.
Tim McCune, president and co-founder of Salt Creek Ltd., which runs the restaurant, said he and co-founder Pete Truxaw are appealing the jury’s verdict.
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O.C. restaurant hit with $3.2 million verdict
A San Clemente woman left with permanent nerve damage after eating an Ahi tuna appetizer at Salt Creek Grille was awarded $3.2 million by an Orange County jury.
The Dana Point eatery plans to appeal the July 11 verdict for Alexis Sarti, 22. She sued the 10-year-old Craftsman-style eatery after a near fatal incident stemming from “cross contamination” of her raw fish with campylobacter jejuni, bacteria found in raw poultry.
The bacteria attacked her nervous system, causing temporary double vision and paralysis from head to toe after the April, 2005 incident, according to the lawsuit she filed last year.
A jury ordered Salt Creek to pay her $3.2 million in damages, considered one of the largest punitive fines levied against a California restaurant in a case involving this specific bacteria, said Sarti’s Newport Beach attorneys Keith Bremer and Tyler Offenhauser.
