Families sue dairy, store over tainted milk

Two families whose young children became seriously ill in July 2008 from E. coli bacteria in raw milk produced by a Simsbury dairy are suing the dairy and Whole Foods Market Inc., whose store in West Hartford, Conn., sold the tainted milk.

The three children - a brother and sister, then 3 and 1, and another girl, then 3 - were hospitalized. Two of the children suffered kidney failure from the poisoning and needed dialysis to recover, the families' attorney said last week.

The lawsuits, filed in recent weeks in Hartford in the names of the children's mothers, seek money for medical expenses, suffering and future care. The children now lead normal lives, Bartolini said, but their health has been compromised.

"No one is sure of the long-term effects of the illness on these children," Bartolini said. "They will need regular monitoring at least into late teen years for kidney function and hypertension. It's a big sword hanging over the heads of these families."

The two civil actions are apparently the first filed by the 14 Connecticut residents ranging in age from 1 to 81 who were sickened by drinking the tainted milk from Town Farm Dairy. The dairy ceased selling raw and pasteurized milk on July 9, 2008, after reports of customers sickened by raw milk surfaced.

The Hartford Courant