Lindsey Jennings (middle), our client, was a "perfectly healthy" twenty-one year old girl.  Actually, better than that, Lindsey was an avid athlete, in training for a marathon, running over 40 miles a week, all while completing her pre-med courses during her senior year at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, when she was unfortunate enough to eat contaminated lettuce. 

In fall 2008, Lindsey suffered an E. coli O157:H7 infection and illness the likes of which we don’t often see . . . at least not in somebody so undeniably healthy and vibrant.  Lindsey was hospitalized for 12 days with a gastrointestinal illness so severe that she required replacement nutrition (total parenteral nutrition) because her gastrointestinal tract was too injured to process food or fluid.  She did not eat solid food for over a month, and actually had to continue to receive this nutrition through a tube (peripherally inserted central catheter–PICC) even after she was discharged from the hospital. 

Lindsey has continued to recover from her illness in 2009, but she has chosen not to forget about the experience of being so ill.  Along with several other Marler Clark clients, Lindsey recently spoke to members of Congress about food safety issues and the need for more vigorous legislation and regulation of the food supply.  Afterward, in an interview with Elizabeth Rackover of The Oakland Press, Lindsey stated, “It’s made me much more interested in the political side of things.”  “No one should have to go through what we’ve gone through. There are approximately 5,000 people who die every year from foodborne illnesses and almost all of it is preventable.”

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Photo of Drew Falkenstein Drew Falkenstein

Drew Falkenstein joined Marler Clark in January, 2004 and has concentrated his practice in representing victims of foodborne illness. He has litigated nationwide against some of the biggest food corporations in the world, including Dole, Kellogg’s, and McDonald’s.  He has worked on landmark…

Drew Falkenstein joined Marler Clark in January, 2004 and has concentrated his practice in representing victims of foodborne illness. He has litigated nationwide against some of the biggest food corporations in the world, including Dole, Kellogg’s, and McDonald’s.  He has worked on landmark cases that have helped shape food safety policy, HACCP protocol, and consumer rights, such as the E. coli outbreak in fresh spinach in 2006 and the 2008 Peanut Corporation of America outbreak of Salmonella. A frequent speaker for the not-for-profit organization Outbreak, Inc, Mr. Falkenstein travels the country to address public and environmental health organizations as well as food safety meetings and annual educational conferences.  He speaks on the intersection of law and public health, and addresses companies on how to prevent food borne illness outbreaks.