Chicago, IL - Consumer products maker Sara Lee Corp. said it proposed to pay $250,000 to settle its portion of a lawsuit over contaminated drinking water that was blamed in the deaths of at least 88 people and sickened 400,000 in Milwaukee in 1993.
The lawsuit was filed by people who claim to have been injured when a former Sara Lee subsidiary in 1988 allegedly dumped contaminated animal waste that over the course of years made its way into the city's water supply.
The city of Milwaukee and General Chemical Corp., which sold water-treatment chemicals to the city, were also named as defendants in the class-action suit over water contaminated with the parasite cryptosporidium, which can kill people with weakened immune systems.
Under the proposed settlement, which is slated for a final hearing on Dec. 17, Sara Lee and its former wholly owned subsidiary Peck Meat Packing Corp. will be released from any liability, Sara Lee said in a statement issued.
Chicago-based Sara Lee, one of the largest processed-meat companies in the world, opted to settle the case because it was preferable to potential costs of lengthy litigation, spokesman Jeffrey Smith said. The company has admitted no wrongdoing.
Smith said Sara Lee sold the meat-packing plant in December 1988, about two months after the alleged dumping incident. The cryptosporidium outbreak occurred about five years later. The spokesman said it has never been proved that Peck dumped cryptosporidium.
The $250,000 will be paid to a fund to be used to cover expenses of continuing claims against General Chemical and the city of Milwaukee, Sara Lee said.
Meat Industry Insights News Service
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