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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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This is bloody ridiculous. I really think that the judges are now awarding people money from big business because they figure that they can afford it and want to spread it around because this case just DOES NOT MAKE SENSE TO ME. 1. HOW can this family PROVE first and foremost that it was the twister that made them all sick? 1. HOW do we know that it was NOT SOMETHING ELSE that they may have eaten out of their own fridge at home that day or the mother's cooking that made them sick? 3. WHY is KFC responsible for something that a company employee or owner of the KFC franchise MIGHT HAVE DONE? In other words, if I am an owner of a franchise and I decide ALL BY MYSELF to keep old meat and use it and this meat eventually gets used in something a person has ordered to eat. WHO should be responsible for this person getting sick then? The company who controls the franchise or the person that decided all on their own and had a responsibility to throw it away but didn't and made the person sick? The reason that so many of this kinds of suits make me sick is because they CANNOT PROVE unless they can do it with DNA or bacteria in their blood or bowels, KFC will now just pass the cost of paying these people off by increasing the price we all pay for our chicken if we order it now. But enough of this for now - I am off to Kentucky Fried Chicken to get a chicken wrap - who knows, MAYBE it will make ME SICK TO AND I CAN SUE AND WIN EVEN 2 MILLION DOLLARS. It is not like I HAVE TO PROVE that I bought or ate one.
I really don't like posting this, but I have to. I worked in a fast food restaurant when I was a kid. I will never eat at one again.
Weres then proof that they ever ate at KFC? They waited two days to say the ALL shared 1 twister? What family shares 1 sandwich. Were there cameras in the KFC thats shows them buying this 1 shared twister? Bunch of B.S. if you dont have proof you even bought the sandwich there.
I have a 7 year old..can't imagine 1 trip to a fast food joint and he could be in that serious medical condition. If KFC was truly at fault, $8.3 million seems hardly enough....to me, if KFC saw themselves as being culpable, then they should have offered $10 million to settle. I guess their Lawyers knew what they were doing.
If they can't prove they bought it, and there aren't any other cases for that particular day, then I think KFC is correct. This is tragic, but it doesn't look like it's KFC's fault.
The devils in the details... Notice that KFC claims the people who got sick can't prove they "bought" a twister notice that KFC never claimed that they never had eaten a Twister or had gotten sick from eating a Twister.. there just claiming they cant prove they bought it. Like everyone actually saves every 99 cent receipt. You don't have to prove "you" "bought" something to prove that you ate one and that it made you sick.
KFC's attorneys are being very unethical by trying to associate having a receipt for food purchase with proving that the food made you sick...Like everyone actually saves every 99 cent receipt.. Thankfully there are Judge's still left who are smarter then that.
Obviously you know nothing about the restaurant business or food safety because cross contamination of a single unheated sandwich isn't going to cause an epidemic. The bottom line is someone forgot to wash their hands after taking the trash out or handling raw chicken and then made this twister with their contaminated fingers...!!
I got sick off of a cookie at the San Diego zoo. I'm ok, but there were emergency room fees, etc. Should I have sued? Man I don't even think like that.
Sorry... the store didn't have 1 isolated piece of contaminated chicken. Not buyin' it.
This was a set up of deep pockets that ran afoul. (a-fowl?)
Wow I'm utterly amazed at the shear number of people who are food safety illiterate. I'm really surprised that there aren't far more case's of food poising in the US
Obviously you know very little regarding food safety because cross contamination with raw chicken can easily result in a single contaminated meal. All it takes is one drop of raw chicken juice to contaminate a single prepared plate of food. Especially if that drop of raw chicken juice came from a trash can that had been festering at room temperature for hours.
The vast majority of salmonella food poising cases aren't epidemics they are single isolated cases of cross contamination... Except in the US during Thanksgiving where the vast majority of food poisoning cases are a result of salmonella from improperly defrosted turkeys.
The bottom line is someone forgot to wash their hands after empting the trash or handling raw chicken and then made this twister with their contaminated little fingers...!!
Wow ...............don't think I'll ever eat there again................been over 20 years anyhow.
From what I understand it is uncommon for only 4 people to contract salmonella from only one item/product of food. Was there an expection at this particular resturant to check their products for salmonella? Was there any more recorded cases of salmonella from people who had eaten at this KFC? Also, how in the hell does a family of four share a Twister Wrap? That's like sharing a single doughnut. I wish that this article would give either more information, or if that's all the information that was in available then their is something extremely fishy going on indeed.
hm...not so strange. me and my bfs entire family and a few friends all got salmonella from eating 2 orders of el pollo loco chicken >_> all i can say is theyre lucky it was in the AU because if it was the US theyd lose double the amount for medical costs too :/
Just another sociopathic American (yea, yea, I know it happened in Australia) company, with overpaid, top-heavy management that refuses to take any responsibilty for their unethical business practices and are intent to use a corrupt judicial system to get out of having to do what is right. The fact that these companies and their criminal management will not simply stand up and say "we made a mistake, let us help this family" they instead use scumbag lawyers to convince everyone that what they did was not illegal. Doesn't matter about the the ethics, because business is not about ethics, it's about stealing the wealth of the consumer and running with it.
I dont buy it that was the only food item sold that would have been tainted. Sarannea i assume your a peta liberal. i do not care to watch meet your meat, as the bulk of peta productions are not even filmed in the US. we have all had things to give us issues after eatting at some point. maybe this family went to look at animals and daughter having the worst case played with an animal very much alive, did not wash drank from the family cup, since they are so broke to only afford 1 twister we must assume they would share a drink too. in any case i hope KFC wins the appeal!
How did she wind up in a coma and than a wheelchair for life? all from 2 bites maybe even a whole twister sandwich? You get stomach cramps,the poops you puke and in 24 hrs. its out of your system...they all could have had the bug got sick exspelled it and that was that.Maybe the hospital screwed up and thats why the kids is in a coma wrong meds maybe?
Yes most people get "stomach cramps the poops you puke and in 24 hrs. its out of your system" as you so eloquently put it. Obviously she didn't, it obviously affected her differently. It's the same case with vaccinations, the very large majority of people have tenderness for a while and maybe a slight fever and that's that. In rare cases people have allergic reactions to it and it can cripple them, leave them brain dead or worse, kill them. In 2009 a Redskins cheer leader who got the flu shot and it resulted in neurological problems, but on any given day thousands of people can get a flu shot and be just fine (and that's just one example). There are the rare few in society who can't handle things as most people can. Unfortunately for this little girl she appears to be one of them.
always someone complaining....
"Monika, her parents and older brother had a common strain, but Monika's case was very rare". HUH?
I take from the article that her reaction was very rare as it clearly states they all had "A" common strain not separate ones.
Backcountry164 wrote:
"Gee, did I miss that part of the story? What possible incentive would an employee at KFC have to give someone food left out from the day before? If we're just going to pull theories out of thin air I would say a far more likely scenario than yours is that someone in the family didn't wash their hands after using the restroom."
In the past 10 years I have managed 5 different restuarant brands ranging from quick serve to upscale. One thing all had in common as any BUSINESS is the pressures to hit cost. Now with food service this can be a bit more challenging so the pressures on thier managment teams are tough and unforgiving especially with many resturuants reporting a loss per fiscal year. On average a quick serves CP (controllable Profit) ranges from 5%-15% Keep in mind that this is not the bottom line... minus overhead and other misc cost your normally left with around the 5% range. That means that for every dollar the owners gross 5cents for every dollar, now minus depr.&amor. (money left in the bank to maintain equip. facilities ect) your not left with much per store.
Due to penny pinching being the nature of the resturuant business many managers take short cuts to pinch those pennies harder as they feel if they do not they will be out of a job. I have heard of and seen many unsafe practices both conciously made and unconciously made. So to answer your question as to what incentives an employee would have would be thier job, bonus, hours recieved if it's an hourly employee and many more gains or losses for pinching those pennies the best.
Low volume stores tend to be the most at risk for these behaviors because there are more pressures put on the teams and without a skilled manager at lead; many more shortcuts being taken. Low volume stores (10k-15k per week pending on buying power, brand ect) also do not have the luxury of hiring well trained and caring staff. They also do not have it in the budget to send all employees to a serve safe course from the local health department so they tend to go with the health departments minimum requirements which is one manager must hold a food handlers/serve safe lic. This falls on lack of leadership or care when this manager does not vigoriously train thier team on the dangers of the business.
This could have easily have happened and yes it can have easily have happened to only one family. My blessings go out to this little girl and her family... for whatever the cause may or may not be.
I believe it. While on vacation a few years back, my family all got sick after eating at a KFC next to our hotel. We were four people fighting to use one bathroom and it got very ugly! We swore never to tell about our shared shame, but since this is pretty anonymous---picture one person on the toilet and the others all hanging their backsides over the edge of the bathtub----yes, really.
Over time, the agonizing memory fades and you think it was a fluke and give the chain another chance---mistake! We went to our local KFC and the tables were all dirty and our feet stuck to the floor. If the public areas are dirty, who knows what the back looks like--we left and have never been back. Between the risks of undercooked chicken, dirty conditions, inexperienced help, and irresponsible management---there is just too much wrong with KFC--they deserve to be sued.
Her parents, brother, herself, AND her grandmother shared one Twister??
How huge are they over there? That's pretty crazy. Five people taking a bite and 4 getting ill.. O.o
although i think its awesome that KFC was forced to pay the damages of 8 million, i think that it should be devided amongst the ill family members the MAJORITY of the money awarded to go to monika for HER PERSONAL USE and not the rest of the fam. i say this only because often families sue these crooks that refuse to take responsibility for nearly KILLING a little girl only to spend it on themselves and the victim(monika in this case is the real victim here) would see nothing. if the family invests it for monika bless them if not they are just as bad as KFC.
People are ridiculous.....sue sue sue....lazy people that would rather have a hand out than earn a buck. You don't want to take the chance of getting food poisoning, don't eat out. Make your own food...that way when you get sick, you can sue yourself.
People always want to blame someone for their problems/accidents and then get paid for it. You want to reduce your chances of getting food poisoning? Don't eat out. Make your own food, that way when you get sick you can sue yourself.
Are readers going to complain about the grammar/spelling or say something constructive
regarding the story?
I am so sorry that happened to the little girl and the family. KFC should belly
up to the plate and admit it was wrong. I've eaten at KFC many times and I am
glad here in the USA... KFC will get their butts in a big crock if they screw
around with health sanitations. At least the money can help support the girl
for the rest of her natural life.
Ahhhhh, American hegemony at it's best. What we offer the world, be like us and eat our food, enjoy the American way of life......KFC and all those other fast food joints are crap, they serve crap and it's very, very unhealthy...bad enough we have it here in the States, sad that it is other countries......don't eat it, now you know why Americans are so overweight.....and have diabetes
i do not feel the family purchased the wrap, wraps are small, a whole family sharing is questionable. i think it is made up. they got caught up in their own plan to rip KFC off. i am sad they made the decision to sacrifice themselves and their children. courts system will tie up money for awhile. they probably thought grandma would not be able to survive the poisoning, they felt themselves and the youngsters healthy enough to survive, they were wrong
Anything offered at a KFC on the menu KFC then is responsible for the content,. they put their name on it and with that name comes a promise to its customers that we at KFC will ensure that you wont die eating our food....trying to bully that family with lawyer stall/bankrupt tactics is enough that I will not eat at a KFC ever again because I should not have to worry that my child could die or be seriously hurt and then worry that KFC will tell me it was tragic what happened to your child..but were going to bankrupt you so dont try and sue us.
2005 -2012 that family was put through hell..not only did they have to worry about their child bills but then they had to worry about how much longer they could keep fighting a well funded corporation who could care less about their reputation and more about their profits. bad P.R department...deplorable.