Chipotle Sued by Minnesota Woman Hospitalized With Sepsis in Salmonella Outbreak

A Minnesota woman who was hospitalized with sepsis after eating a Chipotle burrito bowl has sued the restaurant chain, claiming contaminated jalapeño peppers caused her illness during a multistate salmonella outbreak linked to 345 cases.

Kristen Behne filed the lawsuit Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. She seeks more than $75,000 in damages for medical expenses, physical injuries and emotional harm.

Behne ate a chicken burrito bowl from a Chipotle restaurant in Roseville on June 24, according to the complaint. The meal included salsa and guacamole made with raw jalapeños.

Three days later, Behne fainted and developed a fever that reached 102 degrees, the lawsuit states. She was hospitalized with sepsis and dehydration and remained there until June 30. Behne claims she has not fully recovered.

Laboratory testing identified her infection as Salmonella Javiana and found that the bacteria were genetically related to samples collected from other people in the outbreak. Minnesota health officials linked her illness to the outbreak on July 1.

Proving which food caused an infection is often a central issue in foodborne illness lawsuits. Symptoms may not appear for several days, and an affected person may have eaten several foods during that period. Medical records, genetic testing, restaurant exposure data, and health department findings can help show the likely source.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 345 illnesses across 27 states as of August 4, including 36 hospitalizations and no deaths. Minnesota and Colorado each had 110 reported cases.

Among 191 people interviewed by public health officials, 177 said they had eaten at a Mexican-style restaurant before becoming ill. Investigators identified 27 clusters of related illnesses tied to Chipotle and QDOBA locations in seven states.

Interviews and supply records pointed investigators to jalapeños grown in Sinaloa, Mexico, and distributed by Coast Citrus Distributors. The distributor agreed to recall the affected peppers, according to federal health officials.

Behne’s lawsuit relies on strict product liability, negligence, and negligence per se. Strict product liability generally focuses on whether a product was unsafe when sold, rather than whether the seller knew about the problem.

Prepared restaurant food can be covered by product liability law. Behne claims the burrito bowl was defective because it contained salmonella. The claim does not require Behne to prove that Chipotle knew the peppers were contaminated before serving them.

The fact that an ingredient came from another business does not necessarily prevent a claim against the restaurant that sold the finished meal. Companies that grow, distribute, and serve food may each face separate questions about their role in bringing an unsafe product to the public.

Behne also claims Chipotle failed to use reasonable care in selecting and serving its ingredients. Negligence requires proof that a business failed to act with reasonable care and that the failure led to an injury.

The complaint cites Chipotle’s earlier food safety incidents to argue that the company was aware of the need for stronger controls against contaminated ingredients. A 2015 salmonella outbreak in Minnesota sickened 64 people. Chipotle also agreed in 2020 to pay a $25 million criminal fine to resolve charges connected to outbreaks that sickened more than 1,100 people between 2015 and 2018.

Those earlier incidents may be used to support Behne’s claim that another outbreak was foreseeable, but they do not establish that Chipotle is liable for her illness.

A related claim known as negligence per se allows the alleged violation of a safety law to be used as evidence that a business failed to meet its legal duty. Minnesota food rules require restaurants to serve food that is safe and not adulterated. Behne claims Chipotle violated those requirements by selling a meal that contained salmonella.

Chipotle said its ingredient tracking system allowed the company to identify the affected lot, remove the peppers from restaurants and replace them with jalapeños from other growers.

Federal health officials have said Chipotle and QDOBA do not present a current ongoing risk from the outbreak after removing the affected peppers. The FDA investigation remains open, and Behne’s lawsuit is pending in Minnesota federal court.