Court dismisses suit over E. coli outbreak.

Byline: Scott Maben The Register-Guard

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Lane County and the county fair board for illnesses caused by the largest outbreak of E. coli bacteria in state history.

Two dozen families filed suit in June 2003, almost a year after 82 people - nearly two-thirds of them younger than 6 - became ill from exposure to the bacteria at the 2002 county fair.

Each family could have recovered as much as $200,000 from the fair board and the county under a state liability cap for government agencies.

The families decided to drop the suit because experts could not show how the county or fair could have prevented the outbreak, a lawyer for the county said.

"There's no way they could prove the Lane County Fair did anything wrong or could have done anything to have prevented any of these people from getting E. coli," said Bob Wagner, a Portland attorney.

Lane County Circuit Judge Lyle Velure dismissed the suit Oct. 5. The case was scheduled to go to trial Tuesday and might have taken eight weeks.

Among the 82 people who grew ill after attending the fair, 12 children were treated at Portland hospitals for hemolytic uremic syndrome, a potentially fatal complication of E. coli infection that causes kidney failure.

E. coli O157:H7 occurs naturally in many cud-chewing animals and can be contracted by people through contact with their feces, usually in contaminated ground beef or water.

Public health investigators traced the fair outbreak to the sheep and goat exposition hall on the south side of the fairgrounds, but they could not determine exactly how people became infected.

The bacteria could have spread through straw contaminated with animal feces, officials said. Bacteria also were found in the building's rafters, indicating that they became airborne and could have fallen on food, floors, railings or people's skin.

"The Lane County Fair E. coli outbreak was very unique," Wagner said. "It has been studied intensely by scientists both nationally and internationally, and all of them have agreed that the reason the outbreak occurred is not known and will never be known."

That means it was unpredictable and therefore unpreventable, he said.

"There's nothing scientifically that Lane County or the Lane County Fair could have done to have prevented the outbreak," Wagner said.

Some who got sick had washed their hands after visiting the animals and some did not, suggesting they, too, could not have prevented the infection, health officials said.

One of the plaintiffs, Bill Walter of Eugene, said he was disappointed in how the case ended.

"It's hard to imagine when you have an event and invite people into your event and 80 people get sick, that there's no culpability," Walter said.

His daughter, Carson, then 2, spent 31 days in a Portland hospital and underwent 17 rounds of dialysis to filter toxins and excess water from her blood. Now 4, she's healthy but has permanent damage that likely will require a kidney transplant in her late teens or early 20s, the girl's father said.

"We're happy Carson is still with us, because she was so sick," he said.

"That's what we're focusing on. And hopefully this will educate people that there's some inherent danger in taking real small kids to an environment like that."

That, Walter said, was a key reason for the suit: to draw attention to health risks at livestock exhibitions and petting zoos.

"Even though it may not have been a real solid court case, there's still a lesson to be learned," he said.

In response to the 2002 outbreak, the fair erected portable hand-washing stations at all barn entrances and put up signs urging visitors to wash their hands after touching animals and before eating. Among other precautions, officials also warned visitors to make sure children don't put their hands in their mouths after touching animals, animal pens, the floor or the bottom of their shoes if they walk through animal areas.

"We're certainly sorry it happened," said Warren Wong, the fair's managing director. "I know how painful it was for the individuals who caught the E. coli and for the parents."

The episode, Wong said, has heightened awareness for any venue that has animals on public display.

"That's why our strong emphasis is on education, handwashing and not taking food into animal venues," he said. "You've got to wash your hands."

All but one family agreed to drop the suit and not sue again. Cinnamon Howard, whose son Tyson Howard-Nettles was infected, reserves her right to refile a suit.