Tainted tomato lawsuit settled

Judge returns cases to county of original filing

By Phil Ray, pray@altoonamirror.com
A key lawsuit in the Sheetz Inc. bad tomato case has been settled out-of-court, according to an order issued by Blair County President Judge Jolene G. Kopriva.

Altoona resident Max Christian Anslinger filed a lawsuit against the convenience store chain after he became sick on what he claimed were tainted tomatoes in food he purchased at the Beale Avenue store in July 2004.

As it turned out, hundreds of customers in several states complained about the Roma tomatoes Altoona-based Sheetz received primarily from Coronet Foods of Wheeling, W. Va.

An investigation by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture determined that the tomatoes alleged to have caused the illnesses were tainted with salmonella from July 3 to 9, 2004.

Anslinger filed a lawsuit in Blair County, stating that he became so ill from the tomatoes that he was hospitalized.

Several other lawsuits were filed in nearby counties, and Coronet and other distributors of the tomatoes brought other parties into the lawsuit, including the farmers who grew the vegetable.

All legal actions against Sheetz were transferred to Blair County, and Kopriva was to dispose of major legal issues, particularly who should be involved in the case.

In August, Kopriva dismissed civil charges against eight of the other parties who were attached to the case, basically leaving Coronet and Sheetz as the major protagonists.

Sheetz has sued Coronet for lost profits because of the tainted tomatoes.

Kopriva said there was no evidence to charge other distributors or the growers with contaminating the tomatoes.

Kopriva’s August ruling also cleared the way to settle the lawsuits filed by customers who became ill.

Sheetz has asked the state Superior Court to review Kopriva’s ruling, said attorney Gary Zimmerman, representing Sheetz.

Kopriva stated in an order filed last week in the office of the Blair County Prothonotary that the Anslinger case has been settled out of court.

Zimmerman confirmed the settlement Monday, but he said the amount was confidential.

As part of the order, Kopriva also transferred the cases of other individual customers to the counties where the lawsuits originally were filed. She said those lawsuits will proceed through the local court systems until they are settled or brought to trial.

The cases transferred included two from Bedford County, brought by Matthew J. Hicks and Robert and Patricia Burget. One case filed by Stephanie L. McCabe was returned to Cambria County.

Three were returned to Butler County, for Terry and John Diaz, Ryan Smith and Timothy A. Elliott.

Other cases transferred from Blair included lawsuits brought by Jennifer Perry of Westmoreland County, Toby R. Simko of Dauphin County and Benjamin Fodor of Allegheny County.

The remaining suit in Blair County is Sheetz vs. Coronet.

Kopriva has set deadlines for both sides to complete their discovery, or investigations, into the salmonella outbreak.

Zimmerman estimates that the Coronet case will be tried in Blair County in the latter half of 2008.

Mirror Staff Writer Phil Ray is at 946-7468.