National food-safety expert and attorney Bill Marler, who has represented thousands of people in poisoning claims against food companies, will speak at the University of Louisville Oct. 30 about “Foodborne Illness Litigation.”
The free, public talk at noon in Gheens Science Hall and Rauch Planetarium is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences’ biology department and the Brandeis School of Law. The event is part of the Brown & Williamson lecture series.
For two decades Marler has represented clients sickened by food products contaminated by salmonella, E. coli and other bacteria and viruses. The illness outbreaks have been linked to a variety of meats, produce, milk, eggs, beverages and dessert products.
His advocacy for safer food is credited with helping the passage of the 2010-11 Food and Drug Administration’s Food Safety Modernization Act. Marler works with nonprofit food safety groups and foodborne illness victims’ organizations and speaks frequently to food industry and public health organizations about the litigation of claims in outbreaks. He also publishes an online Food Safety News site.
The NSF public health and safety organization gave him its Food Safety Leadership Award for Education in 2010; he also earned the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association’s Public Justice Award and the Seattle/King County Bar Association’s Outstanding Lawyer Award, both in 2008. He earned his law degree from Seattle University in 1987.
For more information, contact Michael Perlin at 502-852-5944 or michael.perlin@louisville.edu.
