Listeria Class Action Filed Against Tiger Brands and Enterprise Foods
29 March 2018
A Listeriaclass action lawsuit will be filed Thursday against Tiger Brands Limited and Enterprise Foods in the High Court of South Africa to seek compensation for the hundreds of persons contaminated by the companies’ products. Ngobeni Class Action – Full Founding Papers w.o. Attmts
The complaint was filed on behalf ten class representative applicants: Montlha Welhemina Ngobeni, Clinton Gregory Chinula, Tebogo Ntjana, Philip George Coetzee, Presendrie Govender, Annelize Le Roux, Xolile Bosch, Rajesh Kumar Misra, Sebastian Laurent Stephen Schwagele-Fan Moritz, and Shereze Curtis. Each applicant represents a group of people affected by the outbreak. The offices of Richard Spoor filed the lawsuit in consultation with United States Food Safety Law Firm, Marler Clark. Currently, the firm represents almost 70 people in the class action with new victims reaching out every day.
For the purpose of this class action, there are four classes: individuals who contacted a Listeria infection but did not die, individuals who contracted the infection in utero but did not die, individuals who were dependent upon other individuals who died as a consequence of their Listeria infection, and individuals responsible for taking care of other individuals who contacted a Listeria infection.
In December 2017, the South Africa Department of Health announced a Listeria outbreak. As of March 13, 2018 there are 978 laboratory-confirmed cases reported to the NICD from all provinces since January 1, 2017. Of the 978 cases, there have been 183 deaths.