Food Snark

By Amy Derby

Seattle food poisoning lawyer Bill Marler is nothing less than a hero to some of the world’s sickest kids. Some of Marler’s biggest clients are young children, many of whom have lost kidney function from something as simple as eating their vegetables.

These kids go through blood transfusions, kidney dialysis, even organ transplants, all because e. coli and other poisons are served to them for lunch. Meanwhile, their parents add huge medical bills (sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars worth) to their long lists of things to worry about.

Enter Bill Marler, who won’t rest until his clients are fairly compensated. Donned in his superhero suit he sets out to make things as right as he possibly can for these kids and their families who, if not for the slack in our government and our food industry would never have gotten sick in the first place.

Marler’s a busy guy. His long list of food poisoning cases include families and children sickened in the recent Banquet potpie salmonella outbreak, Cargill beef e. coli outbreak, and Topps meat e. coli outbreak.

Today he’s in Salt Lake City “trying to figure out what the right amount of money is to compensate a 4-year-old who will lose her kidneys.” He’s just settled six more of the 21 lawsuits still pending over the 2006 September e. coli outbreak traced to contaminated spinach.

Before today, Marler had already settled 51 of his total 83 spinach cases, including last month’s settlement of the case of one Wisconsin family whose 6-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter were sickened by the spinach. The little boy developed a painful form of kidney failure which put him in the hospital for two weeks while he had multiple blood transfusions. Although the settlement amount is secret, in his lawsuit Marler asked for more than $75,000 plus court costs for the family.

Yes, Popeye would be proud. But it’s not just sick kids who look up to Bill Marler.

When he’s not busy fighting food poisoning crime, Bill can be found at home in his superdad outfit teaching his 15-year-old daughter Morgan to drive, helping his 12-year-old daughter Olivia with her science project, or watching reruns of Meerkat Manor with his 8-year-old daughter Sydney.