WASHINGTON — An Arlington, Virginia woman filed a lawsuit Friday against Fig & Olive following a salmonella outbreak that closed the restaurant’s D.C. location for six days, The Washington Post reports.
Laura Donahue, 36, filed the lawsuit, claiming she became ill days after she dined at the restaurant on Sept. 2. The post reports she had chills, fever, a swollen belly and fainted after running a half-marathon.
She said that she had a crostini, a cucumber martini and a salad, followed by a truffle mushroom risotto and a dessert crostini. “The people responsible need to be held accountable,” Donahue told The Post. “There’s myself and there’s the pain — this is what I can do. This is all I can do.”
The D.C. Department of Health closed the restaurant on Sept. 10 in order for health officials to determine the source of the outbreak.
The upscale Mediterranean-style restaurant was blamed for at least 10 confirmed cases of salmonella, though more than 200 people may have been sickened. The restaurant health department cleared the restaurant to reopen Wednesday, WTOP has reported.
LaQuandra Nesbitt, director of the health department, told WTOP that the menu items suspected to be at the root of the outbreak had have been removed from the menu.
The Post reports that Donahue’s complaint sought damages, but the lawsuit did not specify an amount.
Food attorney Mary Beth Albright tells WTOP these types of lawsuits are common.
“Anybody can file a lawsuit,” Albright says. “It’s about winning the lawsuit. But in the meantime, Fig & Olive has to defend itself, and that takes lawyers and that takes money.”
WTOP’s Dick Uliano contributed to this report
