Out of the many thousands of restaurant lawsuits filed every year, a very few amount result in actual monetary damages. These monetary damages are usually awarded to the restaurant owner/operator and the restaurant management company for their troubles and the expenses incurred to have the case resolved. The restaurant owners and operators usually appeal the court denying any wrong doing on their part and claiming that the food was not contaminated or dangerous to their health. However, if the lawsuits are successful in trial then the restaurant owners can be forced to pay damages to the victims for medical bills, mental anguish, etc.
Restaurant lawsuits are another reason to hire a qualified personal injury attorney to resolve criminal charges or to file for restaurant lawsuit settlements.
The Food and Drug Administration, FDA, is responsible for regulating food production, handling, packaging, and holding of food for human consumption. They are also responsible for ensuring that the food bears the proper labeling which includes a list of ingredients. Violating these laws and regulations is a serious matter of law violation and punishment. For instance, the restaurant in Denver which was found guilty of selling contaminated food which caused the death of a six-year-old boy, has to pay a 25 million dollar fine to the family of the boy as well as the victims’ families for the wrongful death.
Restaurant lawsuit settlements are different from other types of civil suits, but still require you to file a lawsuit to recover your losses.
Although you can file for a civil suit in court for instance, the restaurant industry has chosen to fight the lawsuits via class action lawsuits, rather than going to trial. Class action lawsuits allow people in similar situations to come together and form a class together. The class action lawsuit lawsuits will ask a judge to allow the plaintiffs to form a lawsuit together. In a class action lawsuit, the plaintiffs receive cash payments based on the claims that they have brought together. When a restaurant is sued for selling tainted food products, a class action lawsuit can be very profitable because there is a larger amount of people who are able to join the class.
A restaurant in Seattle has settled criminal charges against it after several employees were found to be using illegal methods to clean the restaurant’s cooking pots and pans.
The restaurant settled a criminal charge for $1 million, plus the cost of three months of medical treatment for one of its cook. It was also found to be guilty of misdemeanor counts of failing to remove grease from a certain cooking pot and to use sanitary equipment properly. When the chef decided to put the case before the grand jury, the restaurant settled for a large amount of money. This was actually the largest criminal fine, the city of Seattle had ever seen. When the restaurant settled the criminal charges, it was also accused of withholding information from the government about the situation.
Other restaurants have faced civil suits, which have totaled more than a quarter of a billion dollars. Some of these lawsuits have involved the poisoning of customers with tainted food products.
Others involved injuries from sitting on badly-maintained flooring. One of the biggest restaurant lawsuits was brought forth against a restaurant in California that was being sued over the death of a customer who ate a defective piece of food.
These restaurant owners are not the only ones who can benefit from settlement agreements.
Franchisees and landlords can also get some relief when they settle the lawsuits filed against them. The restaurant settlement amounts that are being given to restaurant owners and franchisees are often much less than the actual damages that they would have to pay if they lost their business. For this reason, many restaurant owners and franchisees are willing to go ahead and settle lawsuits rather than face huge financial losses.
