In our last post, we gave Sacramento readers a little background on the listeria outbreak and showed how it is immediately impacting cantaloupe farmers in our region. Now, let's look further down the line and see what legal implications there might be, even after the news of this health crisis fades from CNN. This is an important issue for us all to consider because farmers make up a business sector that is very important to our regional economy; if they suffer, we all might suffer along with them.

The first type of lawsuit business owners may need to worry about will come from people who get sick from eating tainted cantaloupe they think was from California. This may lead the consumer to mistakenly sue a California grower, thinking it was their product that caused them harm. This would be a products liability suit, meaning the plaintiff is suing on the grounds that the defendant's product (i.e. the cantaloupe) was defective (i.e. contaminated with dangerous bacteria). This is not your traditional sort of business litigation, but in circumstances like this, suits of this nature could dramatically affect a business' operation and its bottom line, so it would be wise of California cantaloupe growers to be on their guard.

Also, bear in mind that California's spinach growers are still recovering from the dire effects of a 2006 E. coli outbreak linked to the vegetable. That means California's cantaloupe growers might be in for a similar fate. If their economic picture is going to stay grim for awhile, growers may have to scramble to meet the terms of contracts and agreements they entered before the outbreak. If their worsened economic positions mean they cannot fulfill what they said they would, they may face lawsuits from unhappy vendors and creditors.

Finally, remember that listeria can come from animal waste, which is a common source of fertilizer. Some farm owners may seek to recovery for their losses from the suppliers of fertilizer. If it can be proven that the fertilizer supplier knew or should have known its product was tainted or that it cut corners when it shouldn't have, California cantaloupe growers might be able to earn compensation to offset their losses.

Source: The Sacramento Bee, "Listeria outbreak devastates Calif. cantaloupes," Gosia Wozniacka, Oct. 14, 2011