$753,000 Jury Verdict for Wrongful Death in Clayton County, Georgia
After a week and a half of trial, a Clayton County jury returned a wrongful death verdict for $753,000 today in favor of our client. While at a local Atlanta restaurant last year, our client's husband died after being served the wrong meal. He had a severe shellfish allergy and, although he ordered a dish without shellfish, the meal that was served to him contained crab meat. Within, minutes of eating the meal he went into anaphylactic shock and died.
The restaurant claimed the husband ordered the meal that killed him. They relied on the order ticket filled out by the waitress. However, through the use of a forensic handwriting witness, we were able to show the waitress had created the order ticket after the fact. Additional medical expert testimony was used to educate the jury on food allergies and anaphylactic shock.
While the restaurant countered they had no responsiblity for whether our client received the proper order or not, we tried the case on general negligence grounds which allowed the jury to find that the restaurant owed a duty to our client and her husband to accurately take their order and deliver the meals as ordered.
Shellfish allergies are one of the most common allergies ranging from mild to severe. While anaphylaxis is rare, it interferes with breathing, causes a severe drop in blood pressure, a rapid pulse and loss of consciousness. In the most severe instances, it causes death.
