Questions to Ask about Food Poisoning
Food poisoning is often one of those illnesses that you must just endure while it runs its course. In some situations, however, food poisoning can be so serious that it sends you to the hospital.
In those types of occurrences, you may actually have a legal claim against a food grower or producer, or a processor or distributor or even the restaurant where you had dinner.
A Boca Raton personal injury attorney can discuss your potential case with you to determine if bringing a legal suit for your food poisoning situation is the right option for you. Ciguatera poisoning from fish in particularly common in Florida.
To bring a valid personal injury claim for food poisoning, there are a few questions that you need to answer first.
1. Which Food Made You Sick?
Food poisoning often takes a couple of days to take full effect, and it can take up to two weeks in some circumstances. By then, you could have eaten many different things from many different places.
If you want to bring a legal claim, you will need to pinpoint the exact food that made you sick. This can be extremely difficult to do, but it can still be done. Consider the following:
- Did you eat anything out of the ordinary?
- Did you eat at a new restaurant or other new location? Have you perhaps eaten any undercooked meats or fish?
- Did everything taste and smell okay at the time you ate it?
- Did you notice anything out of the ordinary in the way your food was prepared?
Your symptoms and the timing of your sickness could be an indication of the type of food that caused your illness as well. Check out this chart from the Food and Drug Administration to help you determine which foods may have caused your symptoms.
2. Who is Responsible for the Contaminated Food?
Once you have determined which food caused your sickness, you need to figure out who was actually responsible for the bad food. You will need this information to determine who or which entity to involve in a lawsuit.
This could take some creativity on your personal injury attorney’s part because nailing down who is responsible in a long chain of entities who could have affected your food can be difficult.
In some cases, you will need to bring in everyone who may have touched the food because each may have been partially liable. Then, each party will have to show that they did not contaminate the food to get out of the lawsuit.
3. Did You Have Any Damages from Your Sickness?
In simple food poisoning cases, there may not be very many damages associated with your sickness, other than maybe an emergency room fee or a copay to visit your doctor. However, if you spent any time in the hospital or missed work for a significant amount of time, then you may have some damages to claim here.
In other situations, when your sickness results in a hospital visit or permanent problems, then your damages will probably be much more significant. It could also include your hospital bills, time off work, and other related expenses. Your likelihood of being awarded pain and suffering damages also increases in cases that are more serious.
Click here to find out more about damages in a food poisoning case.
4. How Long Ago Did You Get Sick?
Like every personal injury lawsuit, bringing a claim for food poisoning is subject to a statute of limitations. That means that you must bring your claim within a certain amount of time or you are legally barred from suing. For most personal injury cases, the statute of limitations in Florida is four years. The clock begins ticking as of the date of the injury in most situations.
Read more about the Florida statute of limitations and how they might apply to your potential personal injury case here.
Do You Need Legal Representation from a Boca Raton Personal Injury Attorney?
If you feel like you still have a personal injury case after answering these questions, then your next step is to speak with an experienced Boca Raton personal injury attorney.
Visit here to take the next steps to contact a Boca Raton personal injury attorney.
