Nine allege food poisoning after eating raw oysters

Nine persons are suing the owners of Pacific Islands Club Saipan and H-Mart after they allegedly became ill after eating oysters served at PIC’s restaurant during a dinner party in 2015.

Peter LG. Pangelinan, Diana M. Sablan, Joseph M. Fejeran, Elsa Nieto, Laing Nieto, Dr. Lorenzo Hocog, Matilde Hocog, Zenaida Camacho, and Nora Sablan are suing InterPacific Resorts (Saipan) Corp., owner of PIC, and Delta Trading Co. Ltd., owner of H-Mart, for negligence, breach of warranties, violation of Consumer Protection Act, strict liability, and infliction of emotional distress.

Through counsel William M. Fitzgerald, they are suing for damages and demanded a jury trial.

InterPacific Resorts, through counsel Richard W. Pierce, has moved the court to dismiss two of the claims—violation of the Consumer Protection Act and emotional distress.

Pierce asserted that several facts in the complaint, if taken as true, support the inference that PIC was unaware that the oysters were unfit (allegedly) for human consumption on Feb. 6, 2015.

Pierce said the plaintiffs also note that the oysters appeared “fresh and wholesome.”

This shows, he said, that the “allegedly bad” oysters appeared fine to an observer and that PIC was not aware of any problem until almost a month later.

Fitzgerald stated in the complaint that prior to Feb. 7, 2015, Delta Trading sold to PIC a quantity of raw oysters.

Fitzgerald said that, on Feb. 7, 2015, the plaintiffs, who are all employees of FHP/Take Care or their guests, participated in a company-sponsored dinner party, which took place at PIC’s Charley’s Cabaret. The party consisted of 25 people.

The next morning, the plaintiffs who ate the oysters all became violently ill, with stomach pain, vomiting, and diarrhea, he said.

He said the incident was reported to the Department of Public Health, which then investigated and determined that the individuals who became ill were those who ate raw oysters at PIC on Feb. 7, 2015.

Fitzgerald said that two days later, or on Feb. 9, Hocog told PIC’s food and beverage manager what happened to ensure that the food poisoning would not happen again.

Fitzgerald said the manager instead became angry, claiming that PIC does not serve bad food, and implicitly accusing plaintiffs of fabricating the incident because the hotel serves hundreds of customers every day and plaintiffs were the only ones to complain.

The lawyer said a second incident of food poisoning involving raw oysters occurred at the PIC shortly after that.

Fitzgerald said that on March 5, 2015, Delta Trading informed PIC that the oysters that were distributed to PIC had been recalled as a result of a request by the Food and Drug Administration.

Fitzgerald said despite being informed by the FDA that there was a serious problem with the oysters that PIC had received from Delta Trading and served to plaintiffs, PIC did not inform plaintiffs so they could confirm the type of contamination they had been exposed to, demonstrating reckless disregard for plaintiffs’ health.