In response to last month’s norovirus outbreak, Boston College students are beginning to take legal action against Chipotle with the help of Boston criminal lawyer Brett Levy. He is currently working with two students, and plans to file civil suits against the corporation in the coming weeks.
The students affected by norovirus in December are looking for compensation from Chipotle. Each case differs in the amount for which the students are filing, depending on the student’s medical bills, missed class time, the time spent in the hospital and the degree of his or her illness.
We’re having a national employee meeting on 2/8 to discuss recent and future food safety changes. All US locations will be closed until 3pm.
— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) January 15, 2016
Levy hopes to solve the issues amicably with a civil case. Levy is confident that Chipotle will cooperate based on the company’s efforts thus far to regain its customers’ trust. Chipotle’s insurance would cover the students’ damages, Levy said.
“Generally speaking, with an incident like this, it is our aim to take care of customers that were impacted by it,” Chris Arnold, communications director and official spokesman at Chipotle, said.
Under University policy, flyers that are hung around campus must be approved by the Office of Student Services. The flyers that Levy’s firm posted around campus and on bus stops had not been run through the University, said vice president of the office of student affairs Barbara Jones. Levy has not reached out to BC concerning the legal cases.
“These posters would not be approved under the posting policy and will be removed,” Jones said.
BC is not planning on taking any legal action against Chipotle after 141 students were infected in December, Jones said. Other lawyers around the country, however, have begun to take legal action following the series of e. coli and norovirus outbreaks, Levy said.
The corporation has already begun efforts to solve the health problems within its stores around the country. The restaurant chain released a statement on its website on Dec. 21 explaining how the company is launching an enhanced food safety program and is working alongside state and federal health officials to solve the health issues.
Chipotle also announced this week that it will be hosting a national employee meeting Feb. 8 to discuss food safety and implement changes. Stores will be closed for the afternoon due to the meetings.
Featured Image by Julia Hopkins / Heights Editor
