Tiger Brands in talks with listeriosis class action attorneys to pay for victims' urgent medical needs

30 Oct 2024

While food producer Tiger Brands’ liability for the listeriosis outbreak in 2017/18 has yet to be determined in court, the company is engaging with the legal team behind the class action lawsuit representing victims of the outbreak, with the aim of agreeing on relief for certain claimants with urgent medical needs.

The legal team behind a class action lawsuit representing more than 1,000 claimants who suffered due to the listeriosis outbreak in 2017/18 has confirmed that it’s received a proposal from Tiger Brands for the payment of interim benefits to a group of claimants, including children born with listeriosis who have pressing medical needs.

Richard Spoor Incorporated (RSI) Attorneys, a public interest law firm behind the class action, said that it received the proposal on Wednesday, 30 October.

“We have also received a without prejudice offer to settle claims for a category of victims that are genetically linked to the outbreak. That proposal is also being considered,” it stated.

“The proposal from Tiger Brands is significant in that it represents the first acknowledgment from Tiger [Brands] that they have some responsibility for the outbreak… We are heartened [by] these developments and are hopeful that it will hasten a just and inclusive outcome.”

The group of claimants who are the subject of Tiger Brands’ proposal comprises about 350 persons who have been genetically linked to the outbreak – a small subset of the about 1,000 victims who make up the class action, according to RSI Attorneys.

Tiger Brands released a voluntary trading update on Wednesday stating that it was engaging with the claimants’ attorneys with a view to agreeing on relief to “qualifying individuals who have urgent medical needs”, despite the fact that its liability for the listeriosis outbreak had yet to be determined in court.

“The Company is committed to working diligently to bring the listeriosis class action to a close as speedily as possible,” said Tiger Brands, adding, “The Company has product liability insurance cover appropriate for a group of its size. Coverage is subject to the terms and limits of the policy.”

Daily Maverick asked Tiger Brands for further details about the matter but the company stated that it could offer no further information at the current stage.

Read more: Dying in excruciating pain and confusion after eating polony and other meats with listeriosis bacteria

Long road to compensation

The listeriosis outbreak in South Africa between 2017 and 2018 was the largest recorded listeriosis outbreak in history, resulting in more than 1,000 infections and claiming 218 lives, according to RSI Attorneys.

The surge in listeriosis infections was linked to contaminated polony produced at an Enterprise Foods factory in Polokwane, Limpopo. Tiger Brands was the parent organisation for Enterprise Foods.

In September this year, Daily Maverick reported on RSI Attorneys’ claim that Tiger Brands had continued to use “every legal loophole available” to delay paying compensation to the victims of the outbreak.

This was after the legal team behind the class action had received two important pieces of evidence related to the outbreak from the National Health Laboratory Service. The first was confirmation that the strain that was predominantly responsible for the outbreak, the sequence type 6 (ST6) strain, was not found in any other facility or location apart from Tiger Brands’ Enterprise facility in Polokwane, according to RSI Attorneys.

Read more: Listeriosis tragedy ‘breakthrough’ evidence makes ‘overwhelming’ case Tiger Brands was responsible – lawyers

In January 2024, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), an institute of the NHLS, also provided public access to DNA sequence data for 403 ST6 isolates (a culture of microorganisms isolated for study) from the listeriosis outbreak. These isolates were derived from samples collected from human patients, food products and the environment at the factory in Polokwane; sequenced by NICD; and analysed by several methods, including multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and core genome MLST.

Core genome MLST, which is a globally recognised method for precisely identifying individual bacterial strains, showed that about 382 of the 403 ST6 isolates had no more than four allelic differences, which meant they were closely related and shared a common origin, according to Thamsanqa Malusi, a senior attorney at RSI Attorneys.

In its voluntary trading update, Tiger Brands confirmed that: “In January 2024, the NICD released the so-called FASTQ files with some data relating to their investigation of the listeriosis outbreak to the plaintiffs’ attorneys. The files were shared with the Company’s attorneys in February 2024 for review by their appointed experts. The experts’ review of the data is at an advanced stage but remains ongoing.”

Read more: ‘They robbed my daughter of a future’ — how listeriosis shattered a mother’s dreams

Trial still pending

Tiger Brands stated that the pre-trial preparations for the case determining its liability for the listeriosis outbreak were still under way.

“A trial date will be allocated by Court once all these pre-trial preparations have been fully attended to,” it said.

Richard Spoor, the director of RSI Attorneys, has previously estimated that the total damages for the claimants in the class action would be between R1.5-billion and R2.5-billion.

“The litigation process continues in parallel with the engagements with Tiger [Brands],” said RSI Attorneys. “There is still a long way, a significant way, to go for an inclusive settlement.” DM

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Long road to compensation

Trial still pending