Food poisoning isn’t just unpleasant. It can land you in the hospital, cost you days of work, and in serious cases, cause lasting health problems. When the cause is a restaurant’s negligence, the law gives you the right to seek compensation.
A food poisoning lawsuit against a restaurant is harder than most personal injury cases because of one big challenge: proving exactly what made you sick. But it’s not impossible, and California law actually favors injured consumers in ways many people don’t realize.
Here’s what you need to know.
More common than most diners realize. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 in 6 Americans (or 48 million people) get sick from foodborne illnesses each year. Restaurants and food service operations are among the most common sources.
The most frequent culprits include:
San Diego’s busy restaurant scene means thousands of meals served daily, and even one breakdown in food safety can affect dozens of people.
You can pursue a claim when you can show that:
California Civil Code Section 1714 requires everyone, including restaurant operators, to use reasonable care to avoid injuring others. When restaurants fail to follow safe food handling practices, they can be held liable.
Food poisoning claims usually fall under one or more of these legal theories:
The restaurant failed to follow basic food safety practices. Examples include:
California has long recognized that food sold to the public is a product. The famous California Supreme Court case Escola v. Coca Cola Bottling Co. helped establish that those who sell defective products can be held strictly liable when those products cause harm. Contaminated food fits this framework.
When a restaurant sells food, there’s an implied promise that it’s safe to eat. If it isn’t, that promise is broken, and the restaurant can be held responsible.
Proving the source. Symptoms often appear hours or even days after eating, and most people eat multiple meals from multiple places before getting sick. Confirming which meal caused the illness takes evidence.
Strong cases usually involve:
When public health officials investigate an outbreak, they often interview affected diners, gather food samples, and inspect kitchens. These investigations can turn what would have been a difficult case into a much stronger one.
The San Diego County Department of Environmental Health and Quality handles restaurant inspections and outbreak investigations across the county.
Damages in a food poisoning case may include:
Some foodborne illnesses cause serious lasting harm. Hemolytic uremic syndrome from E. coli can cause kidney failure. Reactive arthritis can follow Salmonella or Campylobacter infections. Listeria can be fatal for pregnant women, newborns, and elderly patients.
If a loved one died from foodborne illness, surviving family members may file a wrongful death claim under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 377.60.
Yes. Going to the doctor matters for two reasons:
If a doctor doesn’t run lab tests, ask. A confirmed diagnosis dramatically strengthens your claim.
Take these actions as soon as possible:
Yes. Restaurants typically carry general liability insurance that covers customer illnesses caused by their food. In an outbreak situation, the insurance carrier and the restaurant’s legal team will likely respond aggressively, especially if multiple diners are affected.
This is exactly the kind of case where having a personal injury attorney levels the playing field. The restaurant’s insurer has lawyers. You should too.
Most do, at least initially. Restaurants and their insurers commonly argue:
These defenses can be overcome with the right evidence. Lab results, public health investigations, and other affected diners’ reports all help establish the link.
California law gives you two years from the date of illness to file a personal injury lawsuit. The California Courts website covers filing deadlines for various types of claims.
For minors, the statute of limitations is paused until they reach 18. Wrongful death claims have their own two-year deadline, running from the date of death.
Don’t wait. Food poisoning evidence (especially health department reports and lab samples) gets harder to obtain as time passes.
Food poisoning cases require fast action and careful evidence-building. The sooner an attorney gets involved, the stronger your case will be.
DP Injury Attorneys handles personal injury cases across San Diego, including claims against restaurants, food vendors, and product manufacturers. Whether you’re dealing with the aftermath of a single bad meal or a confirmed outbreak, our team of San Diego personal injury lawyers knows how to build a winning case. Take a look at our case results to see what we’ve achieved.
There’s no fee unless we win.
Call DP Injury Attorneys today or contact us online for a free consultation. We’ll review your case and walk you through what comes next.
Arthur Paul D’Egidio is the Managing Partner of DP Injury Attorneys, a San Diego personal injury law firm. With more than 12 years of experience in California injury law, he has dedicated his practice to representing clients in a wide range of personal injury matters, including car accidents, workers’ compensation, slip and falls, catastrophic injury, and wrongful death cases.
Arthur received his Juris Doctor from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law and is a member of the State Bar of California as well as the San Diego County Bar Association. He has received numerous accolades for his work, including being named a Super Lawyer for seven straight years by Thomson Reuters and a “Top 40 Under 40” by the National Trial Lawyers.
