Marler Clark

Marler Clark, LLP is a Seattle, Washington based law firm specializing in foodborne illness litigation on the national level. They have represented thousands of victims of E. coli, Salmonella, hepatitis A, and other foodborne diseases. The firm was founded in 1998 by William Marler, Denis Stearns and Bruce Clark. They were the primary attorneys for both the plaintiff and defense in the litigation stemming from the 1993 Jack in the Box outbreak of E. coli. This was the first major outbreak of E. coli O157:H7, and led to a great number of changes in the food industry to try to ensure the safety of the food supply.

Marler represented some of the most severely injured children from this outbreak as part of both Keller Rohrback, and Kargianis, Watkins & Marler law firms. Bruce Clark and Denis Stearns were the key lawyers defending Jack in the Box. The story of this outbreak is chronicled in Jeff Benedict’s book “Poisoned: The True Story of the Deadly E. coli Outbreak that Changed the Way Americans Eat.”

Marler Clark has represented victims of foodborne illness against many different companies. These include American Food Group, Aunt Mid’s Lettuce, Blimpie’s Subs, Bravo Farms, Cargill, Carl's Jr., Sam’s Club, ConAgra, Del Monte, Dole, Freshway Lettuce, JBS Swift, Jimmy John's, KFC, McDonald’s, National Steak and Poultry, Nebraska Beef, Nestle Toll House Cookie Dough, Odwalla, Olive Garden, Organic Pastures, Peanut Corporation of America, Quiznos, Sheetz, Sodexo, Subway, Taco Bell, Topps Meat Company, United Food Group, Valley Meats, WalMart, Wendy’s, and Wright County Egg.