Trustee: 154 salmonella claims filed in peanut case
AP/File Photo
In this February file photo, Stewart Parnell (right), president of Peanut Corp. of America, and Sammy Lightsey, manager of the company’s Georgia plant, are sworn in at a congressional subcommittee hearing on the salmonella outbreak.
Published: November 19, 2009
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) — A bankruptcy trustee says claims have been filed for 154 people who say they were sickened by a salmonella outbreak traced to a Virginia peanut company.
Peanut Corp. of America, which had headquarters in Bedford County, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy amid fallout from the outbreak, which left about 700 people sick and was linked to at least nine deaths. The outbreak was traced to the company’s plants in Georgia and Texas.
The trustee, Roanoke attorney Roy Creasy, said Thursday that the total number of claims includes some that have trickled in after the Oct. 31 deadline, as well as some that are being withdrawn. So it’s unclear how many ultimately will be eligible for compensation from a $12 million fund approved by a bankruptcy judge in Lynchburg.
The fund will use money from Peanut Corp. insurance policies.
Reader Reactions
This makes me “sick.“
People who were sickened by Peanut Corp didn’t have to sue. They filled out a form proving the cause of their illness and they got a check. I guess this means 154 could prove it.
Maybe not all of them wanted to sue?
I guess I must’ve been misled. Were 700 people sickened? Or was the number 154?
Turns out the number was 154. That’s quite a discrepancy. Should we read ALL the stories appearing in The News and Advance with a similar grain of salt?
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