Woman Sues Mexican Restaurant over DuPage County E. Coli Outbreak

By Amanda Luevano 

A Lombard woman filed a lawsuit Thursday against a Mexican restaurant tied to an outbreak of E. coli in DuPage County.

Elizabeth Bernardi is one of 21 victims believed to have fallen ill after eating at Los Burritos Mexicanos in Lombard. The restaurant was closed last week by the DuPage County Health Department, and is still under investigation.

As of June 19, tests have confirmed 11 E. coli cases linked to the restaurant, and there are another 10 probable cases, according to Sun-Times Media and Fox Chicago reports. Six people have been hospitalized, most of them at Advocate Good Samaritan in Downers Grove.

Bernardi is seeking more than $50,000 in damages from the restaurant, which she reportedly used to visit regularly with her family.

According to the complaint filed in DuPage County Circuit Court, Bernardi and her husband visited Los Burritos Mexicanos on June 6, and she fell ill with gastrointestinal illness on June 9. The Chicago Tribune reports that Bernardi ate a steak taco, but her husband, Maurice, did not.

On June 11, Elizabeth Bernardi sought medical attention after suffering bloody diarrhea, severe abdominal cramps and vomiting. She was taken to the emergency room at Good Samaritan Hospital on June 12, and remained there for five days, according to the complaint.

“I never knew how devastating the effects of E. coli were, on the person afflicted and their family members, until I fell sick with it," Bernardi said in a statement released by Marler Clark, a Seattle-based law firm that represents victims of foodborne illness. 

"The symptoms were beyond severe and just would not stop, continuing to get worse until I could not get up off my bathroom floor,” Bernardi said. “I thank God that I have a strong support system within my own family along with wonderful friends who stepped up to help my husband and six children.”

According to the DuPage County Health Department, some of the illnesses were caused by a Shiga-toxin-producing strain of E. coli that can cause extreme diarrhea and kidney failure.

The Health Department receives about 10 reports of Shiga-toxin-producing E. coli annually, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Los Burritos Mexicanos, which has been in business since 1991, is fully cooperating with the investigation, according to health department officials. The cause of the outbreak has yet to be determined.

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