Almquist et al. v. Finley School District
This appeal involved a $4.6 million dollar verdict that Marler Clark attorneys had won on behalf of eleven elementary school children injured in E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to undercooked ground beef used in tacos sold as part of a school lunch. The defendant school district appealed, trying to get the verdict reversed. The school district argued that Washington’s Product Liability Act did not apply to it, and that preparing tacos for a school lunch did not make the school district a manufacturer like other restaurants might be. The Court of Appeals rejected this argument, and held that school districts that sold school lunches should be held to the same safety standards as every other restaurant in the state.
114 Wn.App.395, 57 P.3d 1191 (2002) available at http://www.appeal-law.com/appeals/almquist.html
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