The families of two children who suffered E. coli infections after eating McDonald’s hamburgers must sue in the rural counties where the restaurants were located, not in a bigger city where McDonald’s also has franchises, the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
The decision was a victory for McDonald’s Corp., which sought to transfer the lawsuits from Jackson County, where Kansas City is located, to the home counties of Branson and Marshfield in southern Missouri.
Two separate lawsuits each contend the children got sick in July 2001 and had to spend three weeks at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, including several days on kidney dialysis. The lawsuits allege McDonald’s and their franchises were negligent in training employees in how to properly prepare the food.
Meagan Bell was almost 3 years old when she ate the allegedly tainted hamburger at a Marshfield McDonald’s; Samantha Ryan was 8 when she ate at the Branson McDonald’s, said their attorney Kathleen Hagen, of Kansas City. Both suffered permanent kidney damage, she said.
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