If you have ever experienced food poisoning, you’ll know how awful it can make you feel. Restless nights as you’re constantly rushing to the bathroom and dealing with terrible stomach pain. Feeling like you can’t move and just wishing for it to be over. There is no denying that it is a horrible thing to go through, but for most, it passes within a day or two, and you’re back to normal. You might have gotten food poisoning after ordering a take-out dinner or going out for a meal at a restaurant, and while you might never go back there again and perhaps even write a negative review, most people will just leave it at that. However, if your food poisoning has resulted in you have to take time off work and lose pay, or you have developed a severe case that has landed you in hospital, leaving a bad review doesn’t seem like enough justice. Although it might seem a bit extreme, taking legal action might be the better route to go down, and here are a few reasons why.
They Could be Making More People Ill
If you have suffered from mild to severe food poisoning from food served at that particular establishment, chances are others have had the same fate as you. Even if your food poisoning wasn’t so bad, another person might have a more serious reaction due to allergies or something else, and although it is rare, sometimes this can result in death. Taking action against them could help to prevent others from falling ill either through having the place closed down or making them rethink their hygiene practices and be more vigilant to avoid another lawsuit. You can find a law firm that covers cases regarding food poisoning and other health code violations to guide you through this type of claim and represent you.
Help to Cover Any Expenses Incurred as a Result
The majority of food poisoning cases aren’t severe enough for someone to end up in the hospital, but this can happen, and if you have been in this scenario, you will have had to pay medical bills for your stay and treatment. If the restaurant had followed health and safety regulations properly and hadn’t served spoiled goods to you or contaminated the food, you wouldn’t have had to be in the hospital in the first place. Even if you didn’t end up in hospital with severe food poisoning, you likely would have had to take time off of work to recover as it is recommended that people don’t come into work for 48 hours if they have issues like this to avoid spreading it. If you get paid an hourly wage rather than a set salary, this will have resulted in a loss of income for you, which you also deserve to be compensated for.
Holding Them Accountable
It might have been a one-off, and usually, that particular restaurant has excellent standards of hygiene. However, if you have noticed that there are numerous reports of food poisoning and other poor hygiene practices from other customers, it’s like that they are just ignoring the regulations that they are legally obliged to follow. Taking legal action against them will hold them accountable for their actions and make them think twice about continuing to disregard health and safety.
If you have experienced severe food poisoning due to eating at a particular restaurant, at least consider taking legal action against them for the reasons listed above.