Chain Admits Liability After Student’s Gastric Symptoms Led To Diabetes Complications

Specialist Public Health lawyers acting for a group of diners who suffered illness problems after eating at the Wahaca restaurant in London have revealed their hope to secure swift justice for their clients after the chain’s owners admitted legal liability for the incident.

Among those suffering is 16-year-old girl Sarah Cousins, from Wallingford in Oxfordshire, who was hospitalised with severe gastric symptoms after visiting the White City branch of the Mexican restaurant franchise at the end of October 2016.

The A-Level student, who has Type-1 diabetes, went on to develop the potentially life-threatening illness ketoacidosis as a result of the illness and required treatment in hospital in order to recover.

Shortly after Sarah’s illness, Public Health England confirmed it was investigating the entire Wahaca chain after reports of more than 300 people falling ill following a suspected outbreak of norovirus across the UK.

Following the problems, Sarah’s father Dr Mike Cousins instructed expert lawyers in Irwin Mitchell’s specialist Public Health team to investigate the cause of her illness and they have now confirmed that they have received an admission of liability from Wahaca’s insurers.

Amandeep Dhillon, Partner and head of the specialist Public Health Team at Irwin Mitchell who is representing the family along with six other diners, said: 

Expert Opinion

“Very serious concerns have been raised regarding the illness problems linked to Wahaca and, with this in mind, it is very welcome to see the restaurant chain providing an admission of liability in relation to this incident.

“Her story is an important reminder of the seriousness of gastric illness outbreaks. While many people do recover within days, such illnesses can have a lasting impact on victims and – in cases like Sarah’s – lead to further complicating and serious health problems.

“Following this latest development, we remain determined to work swiftly with Wahaca to ensure that Sarah and her family get the justice that they deserve in relation to her illness.

“It is also imperative that lessons are learned from her case in an effort to ensure that the problems she faced are simply not repeated.” Amandeep Dhillon - Partner

While Sarah has recovered from the most serious aspects of her illness, she has suffered some ongoing symptoms and also required time off from college at a critical point in her studies.

The Public Health team at Irwin Mitchell have represented hundreds of people who have suffered illness in the UK, including The Toby Carvery outbreak in Exeter in 2015 where they currently act for over 300 people, and have successfully recovered many hundreds of pounds of compensation for groups of claimants who suffered illness as a result of the Newcastle Spice Festival, Grand Hotel Scarborough and Stoke Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks.

Her father Dr Cousins, 48, said: “Wahaca’s admission of liability is a very welcome sign, it has been awful to see how this illness has affected Sarah, particularly at such an important time of her life. We were incredibly worried when she was admitted to hospital and it was a shock to see the impact that the illness had on her diabetes.”

Consultant Gastroenterologist Dr Linzi Thomas commented: “Many patients develop IBS for the first time following a bout of food poisoning or gastroenteritis. Of patients who initially suffer with post infective IBS, 50% will have on-going symptoms at one year, however 2 and 3 years later 34.3% and 34.8% respectively will have on-going symptoms showing that the figures plateau, indicating that the prospect of recovery unfortunately becomes less likely.”