Jersey Shore Seafood Restaurant Avoids Blame in Flesh-Eating Bacteria Lawsuit

A Jersey Shore restaurant isn't liable for serving a woman who ate raw shellfish and then developed a flesh-eating bacteria that caused her to have her leg amputated, a judge ruled this week

Maureen Horan of Pennsylvania sued The Windrift Hotel and Resort, a beachfront vacation spot in Avalon, after contracting an illness after the July 30, 2010, visit to the resorts, a just ruled on Friday.

Two days earlier, Horan ate three raw clams from the menu's "Jersey Shore Sampler," according to nj.com. She was hospitalized with what doctors said was a Vibrio vulnificus sepsis infection and fasciitis.

Doctors later amputated her leg to stop the further spread of bacteria, the report said. The Cape May County Board of Health food inspector also found several violations.

Judge Renée Marie Bumb of the U.S. District Court took issue with testimony from Moran's expert witness, Dr. James D. Oliver, saying the doctor's opinion that unsanitary conditions at the Windrift increased the risk of her injury was "without any sufficient basis, but rather is built upon a working hypothesis or assumption only – an opinion that falls short."

The judge said Horan "must first present sufficient and reliable evidence ... or otherwise to go before a jury that the clams likely contained Vibrio in an amount less than the infective dose. Despite the opportunity to do so, plaintiffs have presented no such evidence."

Horan's suit said the raw clams that made her sick contained acceptable levels of bacteria when harvested and then delivered to the Windrift Hotel, according to the New Jersey law Journal.

The ruling comes after Bumb denied summary judgment to the restaurant in 2015 after ruling that questions based on the water temperature should be put to a jury.

Horan said she developed the infection after returning to her home in Pennsylvania, where she was taken to a hospital and diagnosed with a Vibrio vulnificus sepsis infection and fasciitis. Her leg was amputated to stop the spread of bacteria, but doctors were able to save her arm, according to the law journal.

Horan was later diagnosed with hemochromatosis, an iron disorder that put her at increased risk of infections.

The inspector from the Cape May County Board of Health inspected the Windrift on Aug. 12, 2010, and found several violations, including failure to regularly clean and sanitize a wooden cutting board where shellfish were shucked, failure to regularly sanitize the shucking knife, keeping the shellfish in a refrigeration unit measured at 50 degrees Fahrenheit and poor hand hygiene by the raw bar employee, the law journal said.

Read the whole court decision here.

Patch file photo