Chipotle Mexican Grill is facing a lawsuit from a Minnesota woman who alleges a burrito bowl from a restaurant in the state caused a severe Salmonella infection that left her hospitalized with sepsis.
Kristen Behne filed the complaint in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, accusing Chipotle of strict product liability, negligence and violations of Minnesota food-safety law. She is seeking more than $75,000 in compensatory damages.
According to the lawsuit, Behne ate a chicken burrito bowl from a Chipotle restaurant in Roseville, Minnesota, on June 24. The meal included guacamole, Fresh Tomato Salsa and Roasted Chili-Corn Salsa — all of which the complaint claims contained raw jalapeño peppers.
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Days later, Behne developed fever, chills, vomiting, abdominal cramping and severe diarrhea, the complaint alleges. She eventually sought emergency care, was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with sepsis.
“Three days later she was in a hospital bed, febrile, tachycardic and septic — a life-threatening complication of the Salmonella infection caused by Chipotle’s grossly contaminated food,” the lawsuit alleges. “She has not been the same since.”
According to the suit, the Minnesota Department of Health classified Behne as a confirmed case tied to a multistate outbreak that has sickened at least 345 people.
“MDH recorded her illness as outbreak-associated, identified the outbreak by name as the Salmonella Javiana outbreak, and classified Plaintiff as a confirmed case,” the complaint states.
The lawsuit alleges Behne continues to experience effects from the illness.
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“Plaintiff’s health has not returned to its pre-illness baseline,” according to court documents. “She continues to experience the effects of her acute Salmonella infection and her septic episode, and is at increased risk of well-recognized post-infectious sequelae, including reactive arthritis and post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome.”
The legal action comes as health officials investigate a multistate Salmonella outbreak linked to jalapeño peppers.
Chipotle said Tuesday it had removed jalapeños from some restaurants after health officials linked the outbreak to recalled peppers.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that 345 people in 27 states had been sickened, including 36 who were hospitalized. No deaths have been reported.
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Epidemiologic and trace back evidence identified jalapeño peppers grown in Sinaloa, Mexico, and distributed by Coast Citrus Distributors as the source of the outbreak.
The CDC said Chipotle and QDOBA stopped serving the affected peppers after being notified. Because the products were removed, the CDC and U.S. Food and Drug Administration said they do not consider the restaurants to pose a current ongoing risk to consumers from this outbreak.
Chipotle and an attorney for Behne could not immediately be reached by FOX Business for comment.
FOX Business’ Brittany Miller contributed to this report.
