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Subscribe to RSSSYDNEY - Fast-food chain KFC has been ordered to pay $8.3 million (AUS$8 million) in damages to the family of an Australian girl who was left severely brain damaged and in a wheelchair after being poisoned by a chicken meal.
In 2005, Monika Samaan, then aged seven, her parents and her brother were hospitalized with salmonella poisoning after eating a "Twister" chicken wrap at a KFC restaurant near Sydney.
KFC, owned by Kentucky-based Yum! Brands, said it was a tragic case but was "deeply disappointed and surprised by the decision" and would appeal against it.
It had denied being responsible for the girl’s illness, challenging her family's claims during a four-week trial.
Last week, a New South Wales Supreme Court judge ruled in favor of the family, saying KFC had breached its duty of care to the girl. On Friday, it awarded the family A$8 million in damages, as well as court costs.
Coma
Australian media quoted their lawyer, George Vlahakis, as saying the girl's illness had "exhausted the very limited resources of the family".
"The compensation ordered is very much needed," Vlahakis said.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that, during a four-week trial in 2010, Monika's father Amanwial Samaan said he and his wife Hanna, son Abanou and Monika all fell ill with vomiting and diarrhea after sharing the Twister.
Unlike Monika, who was in a coma for six months and in hospital for seven months, they recovered.
Monika took the court action through her father, the newspaper reported.
'Unsettling'
KFC's lawyer, Ian Barker, QC, argued during the trial that there "never was a shared Twister" because there was no sales data to prove the family purchased it.
"You did not tell anyone at the hospital, when you were there between October 27 and 29, that you had shared a KFC Twister that Monday," Barker said in court in July 2010.
However, it reported that the trial also heard of hygiene practices at the restaurant that the family’s barrister described as "disturbing and unsettling."
News site news.com.au reported that the girl’s grandmother had been the only member of the family not to have shared the Twister and was not taken ill.
Experts at Westmead Hospital found Monika, her parents and older brother had a common strain of salmonella in their stools, although Monika's case was very rare.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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I think the story is missing some important info. What was presented does not lead one to make the jurys' decision rational. Also they can do test on the strain of salmonella and where it originated from which would point to if KFC used the ingredients that had it. Also 4 people on one Wrap? Like someone else said, must have been one monster wrap! Need more information please...
Not really...they aren't obligated to provide any more info. And yes, people share food all the time.
It does sound somewhat suspicious though that no other customers got sick. How is that possible? Did they just happen to get the last bit of some bad lettuce.? Highly unlikely.
Obviously you have no idea how Salmonella is transmitted. I do I've been in the restaurant business for over 40 years. Salmonella can be very easily transmitted through single instance cross contamination.
Obviously someone forgot to wash their hands after prepping raw chicken. Either that or the sandwich was made on a contaminated surface. It's very possible to make only one contaminated sandwiches during a slow part of the day. In fact it much more probable because during the slow times of the day you have less kitchen staff on duty and that means one person handles multiple tasks such as prepping and cooking. When you're dealing with raw chicken that's a really bad practice
Years ago - perhaps 30 years now, the colonel said something to the effect that "sometimes my chicken is Kentucky Fried BAD." The joke in the town where I lived was "Kentucky Fried Mouse".
Apparently Australia knows how to meter out justice. If our Republicans had their way, the company would get away with paying a mere pittance to the family ... and "guess who" would pickup the tab for a lifetime of care. Yes ... me, you and the rest of America's taxpayers.
f I recall correctly, the Republicans want to cap medical malpractice awards at $250K. When a doctor comes to the OR drunk (as happened in Massachusetts a few years ago) and renders you child a vegetable for the rest of his life, your "justice" will be a $250K payment from his insurance company. When your Dad dies on the OR table (as happened to my friend) and you find the heart missing at the funeral parlor (for obvious reasons) your "justice" will be $250K.
Yes, the Republicans will take care of their pals in the insurance industry just as the did when they bailed out AIG. Then they'll tell YOU about the wonders and greatness of capitalism.
Brain damage from Salmonella? Did she have AIDS?
Uh, she was 7?
Umm chris, this isn't about AIDS. Some people get sicker than others and you don't have to have AIDS to be worse.
Food poisoning can kill a young child. 12 years ago my husband & I went out and got KFC for him & me and happy meals for my young sons (2&6). It was us adults that were stricken almost a hour and a half after we ate. We both were so darn sick my mother in law was called to help us take care of the kids. We called our doctor..he told us if our boys would of ate it....it would of been much worse...even death. I never ate at a KFC after that. When I saw this headline, my first initial reaction was..Oh wow KFC strikes again. Reading these comments about how these people are lying...it is so easy for you to call them liars but be put in that situation like my husband & I were and see if you wouldn't be singing a different tune. The next day we went to the KFC to complain. We were told that we were the only people that complained, that no one else had any problems,that it must of been something else we ate. A couple of days later I went to a friend who I knew worked there to complain. He said he heard about it and we wasn't the only ones, a family earlier that day came into complain that they all got sick as well.
I find it amazing that so many people are trying to claim this is a fraudulent law suit. Obviously these claims are based on complete lack of knowledge and experience in the restaurant business and a complete misunderstanding the facts surrounding the case.
Obviously the people defending KFC claiming its a fraudulent case have no idea how salmonella is transmitted and believe that salmonella can only be transmitted through bad batch's of chicken which will make lots of people sick. Therefore In there logic since no other customers reported getting ill then it must be a fraudulent case ...
News flash....!!! salmonella is transmitted through cross contamination. The early version of the Twister sandwich was a prime target for cross contamination because it was made with left over chicken served cold..
KFC received so may complaints from people who became sick after eating the early/original version of this sandwich that they revised the recipe. This case involves the original version of the Twister and obviously in this case who ever prepared the sandwich forgot to wash their hands after handling raw chicken.
I thought only blacks ate at KFC,LEE's,Chicken Coop
KFC should just agree to reach an "out of court settlement" if that's possible in Australia. Otherwise, the bad press will cost them much more than $8M.
Sad situation for the family but, frankly, there seems to be no proof that it was actually the chicken that caused the tragedy.
No disrespect, but how does someone who doesn't have all the evidence in front of them opine that there isn't enough evidence?
I quit eating a KFC about 3 years ago after I got a mild case of food poisoning.
Good! They made me mad the last time I went. Not too mention someone needs to be the example when it comes to the standards that need to be insured in these fast food restauraunts. I once received a chicken wrap from a McDonalds and upon biting into it discovered the inside of the shell was covered in MOLD! It was deffinitely something they didnt miss seeing when they were making it considering its the side the ingrediants were going on. They did not refund me or anything, they looked at me like they brains suddenly fell out of their ears and I left.
Republicans in this country don't care about food safety, It cost to much, anyway rich people don't eat at KFC!
The decimal point should have been moved one place to the right. $8.3 is a mere pittance for what the ultimate costs will be. The girl is seven. Her normal life expectancy would be at least another seventy years. You can't calculate losses based on today's numbers for lost wages and medical and care costs. If this doesn't make sense to you, think what wages and medical costs were seventy years ago versus today. Not too difficult to make a prediction of future numbers, based on seventy years inflation
KFC... The favorite food of lazy naggers and fat people everywhere, well, here in America at least. Stupid food for stupid, lazy people I guess. How long do you think it will take some lazy nagger to think up some scam and try to sue a KFC in America now? " I's is gots the salmonella fom dat KFC! Wheres's my free nagger money!? Just you wait, its gonna happen pretty quick now.
Methinks KFC corporate has its paid shills out astroturfing in the comments section today. Guess it isn't any lower than serving people bleached, rotting chicken and then denying responsibility when little kids get sick.
And you are reasonable? ha!
"Republicans in this country don't care about food safety, It cost to much, anyway rich people don't eat at KFC!"_______There it is! How big do you think the settlement would have been for, oh, say, Mitt Romney's seven year old granddaughter?
MSN really appears to be out to get KFC. Just a few days ago they had a news item on this very case that really bashed the food chain, and was telling people to go to Popeye's instead.
What's the deal. This case does seem a little fishy, or chickeny, whatever the case.
That will teach them to eat at KFC if they ever did. KFC should pay the customer to eat greasey disgusting chick. I am getting sick just remebering the last time I was there.
You all make good points. I just would like to know more info also because it does seem suspect an entire family shares a wrap. No one reported that any other patrons of the restaurant were sick. Probably doesn't take a lot to attain the poison but if that's the case they deserve the money to help with expenses and such. Lastly, that is really nasty and means that someone either didn't wash their hands after using the restroom or the company left the meat out too long. Sometimes it's just employees not washing their hands after using the restroom. Sad. The colonel wouldn't like that!
Sharing food. It happens. The family all tries something. Nope, one tiny bit is all it takes and could have come from anywhere along the way to the customer. No, it doesn't have to mean everyone got sick, either.
I really feel bad for the little girl, however I too wonder how only one family got sick. There would be more reports of people being sick & more law suits especially after all the media attention. I got food poisoning from a pulled pork sandwich at my work's snack bar. I was not the only one. There were at least 10 others! Maybe more that did not complain. We all had the pulled pork. My brother & sister in-law got sick from fish sandwiches at a Burger King. They were not the only ones....there was a whole bunch of others that showed up at the hospital that night. If there were no reports of others then I would guess they got it from something else. I'm sure that was not the only thing they ate that day. Why didn't they mention KFC at the hospital? The first thing the hospital would of asked is what did you eat & where.
How do you know that only one family got sick?
I don't buy this....where were the other sick people who ate there? I have worked many a restaurant and this sounds like baloney. Also, 8 mil? Give me a break! Like the lady who spilled hot McD coffee in her lap and got millions....ripoff!
You don't have to buy it. You have no clue what all the facts are, so you don't know. If you truly worked at restaurants you would know how easy it is to make people sick, and you don't seem to know how expensive taking care of a damaged child for her lifetime costs. t
I to was wondering how only one family came down sick myself, until I remembered an incident I had at our local KFC, I went through the drive-thru and ordered a chicken bowl and as I was watching them make it one of the employees dropped my chicken bowl and it landed upside down on the floor her and another employee started laughing then she picked it up and finished making it. when the other employee brought it to the window I was like you really don't think you're going to serve that to me do you, after a dirty look he took it back and remade me a fresh one. The same thing could have happened, the chicken was dropped on a dirty floor picked up and used, only contaminating that one twister. If most people actually seen what goes on in fast food restaurants they would never eat there again
Ugh. I would've just asked for my money back at that point.
What a scam! The family shared! I think not. This is one of those things you really can't prove. Why didn't any body else get sick eating at the same KFC. Here is what I think the kid got sick eating at home. Who to blame is KFC. The problem is nobody else got sick. Food poisoning one of those things that if one gets sick everybody else gets sick. If the family calms that they got sick and nobody else in town did. That mean this was done at home. It doesn't matter if you disagree with me. I'm always right.
The way KFC cooks it is almost impossible to get food poisoning. Unless you take it home a leave it in the ice box for a couple of weeks.
The problem is that they did somehow prove their case to the judge's satisfaction. Why is that information missing from this report? Who benefits from concealing it?
Lyle, you are just wrong. You just are. I have personally known several people who have gotten sick after eating there. And no, Lyle, not everyone gets sick. If only that piece got contaminated not everyone else would have gotten sick. Do you work for KFC, by any chance? And you are always right? Lol.
Them dam spellin nazis rilly nid to go away. (is this statement written poorly enough to really set off the gramar police?)
Ok ok back on topic please.
There have been quite a few good comments on both sides of the isle; however I keep coming back to one specific point. Where’s the proof? It has been brought up on a couple of occasions that salmonella poisoning would have affected the entire batch of chicken used in the Twister. So unless that was the only Twister sold that week, where are the rest of the sick people? This world has become a litigious society and will sue for anything. Why are there not more individuals claiming that they had diarrhea and stomach problems during the same time.
No, it didn't have to be a whole batch of chicken. One piece dropped or set on a dirty counter, a mildly ill employee happened to touch it in between bathroom and hand wash, or all kinds of scenarios. You don't have all the facts, and you don't know what happened. None of us here do.
I have been in the restaurant business for over 40 years I own a small chain of 5 restaurants and I can tell you unequivocally that the quoted statement above is absolutely incorrect !!!!
The people making this claim obviously know nothing about the restaurant industry or basic food safety and should probably refrain from commenting as they could be responsible for spreading very dangerous rumours regarding food safety..
A single cold served sandwich could easily be contaminated by kitchen staff who failed to properly wash their hands after handling raw chicken. Raw chicken can be loaded with salmonella which is killed off during cooking. If kitchen staff fails to properly wash their hands after handling raw chicken then proceeds to assemble an unheated sandwich made from cold previously cooked chicken they could very easily contaminate just that one sandwich.
Raw chicken is so dangerous/risky to handle in a kitchen that also assembles prepared foods "ready foods" that kitchen staff who handle both prepared food and raw chicken are required by law to use disposable plastic gloves any time they touch raw chicken..
All it takes is forgetting to put the gloves on one time to make someone very i'll. All it takes is one very tiny drop of raw chicken juice in a table ready plate to send a customer to the toilet with the sh!ts. If that person is sensitive to salmonella or has a weakened immune system it could very well kill them.
Some people here seem to unethically be trying to associate a salmonella outbreak with raw chicken cross contamination and they are not the same thing.
I'll STILL eat their CHICKEN! JUST not DOWN under!
My kitchen hygiene practices at home are described as "disturbing and unsettling" but I'm never get sick.
Still the same, we're told some people claim to have been poisoned. Their tragedy pulls you in, but it still has to be supported with evidence. Then the defense's case is presented in full, but not a word about the plaintiff's case. The plaintiff's evidence must have been compelling since the judge ruled in their favor.
So what was the plaintiff's case? Why is that information being denied to us? Who benefits from concealing that information? Is the an Aussie in the house? Could you call a local news person in Sydney, & get the facts?
Nice try KFC. Just like the chicken, you didn't cook the facts enough to fool all of us.