Dallum County resident Frances Childers has filed a lawsuit against The X In Texas Wood Fired Grill, LLC over a severe case of salmonella poisoning she suffered after eating at the restaurant located in Dalhart, TX. Childers is represented by John C. Ramsey and Justin A. Hill of Ramsey Hill, LLP in Houston, TX, and Bill Marler of Marler Clark, a Seattle-based firm specializing in food safety.

Childers, who dined at and consumed food from the X in Texas Wood Fired Grill on February 6, 2015, began feeling ill the very next day. For the next several days, she experienced agonizing symptoms, including excruciating abdominal pain, muscle aches, fatigue, uncontrollable diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. She could only keep food and water down momentarily, before bringing it up again. Her symptoms continued for the next three days.

On February 10, Childers could not take anymore and went to High Country Community Health Clinic, where she was given medication to aid her nausea. She was told to purchase over-the-counter probiotics to aid her digestion and was advised to acquire a stool sample.

Her condition worsened and her two sons immediately took her to Dalhart Emergency Room. There, she received three bags of fluid intravenously. Because her kidneys were failing and she could need life-saving dialysis, she was sent to BSA Hospital in Amarillo, where she stayed for 4 days. It was there that she was told of the recent instances of Salmonella poisoning.

Sure enough, Childers’ stool sample, which was submitted to Coon Memorial Hospital Lab, tested positive for Salmonella. It was reported to the Texas Department of Health, who had already begun an investigation to identify and isolate the source of the recent Salmonella outbreak.

In early February of 2015, the X in Texas Wood Fired Grill voluntarily closed its doors after the Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed their connection to the outbreak. The restaurant was cleaned and sanitized and cleared for reopening. The restaurant reopened on February 19, 2015. The source of the outbreak has not been confirmed and all environmental and food samples tested negative for Salmonella.

“It sounds like the Wood Fired Grill is not only putting the X in Texas, but the S in Salmonella,” said Bill Marler, who has been working to help improve food safety standards since representing victims of the Jack In The Box E. coli outbreak in the early 1990s. “Contrary to popular belief, it is very worrisome when environmental and food samples test negative, because this could mean that the source of the outbreak is an infected employee.”

Salmonella is transmitted by food, water, or surfaces that have been contaminated with the feces of an infected animal or person. Symptoms develop 6 to 72 hours after infection. One of the best ways to prevent the spread of Salmonella is to have proper hygiene and hand washing practices in place, especially after using the bathroom and before handling or preparing food.

“It is extremely frustrating to have to repeat, and repeat, and repeat myself about the importance of hand washing,” said Marler. “It is a scary thought to think that such a simple life-saving act is not being done properly or at all.”

Ramsey Hill LLP is a Texas based law firm with offices in Houston and San Antonio, Texas.  The Texas Trial Attorneys at Ramsey Hill LLP have litigated and tried lawsuits all over the State of Texas and in many other states.  The Texas Personal Injury Lawyers at Ramsey Hill LLP practice primarily in the areas of personal injury, product liability, oil & gas, and commercial litigation.

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of Salmonella outbreaks. The Salmonella lawyers of Marler Clark have represented thousands of victims of Salmonella and other foodborne illness outbreaks and have recovered over $600 million for clients. Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation.