Tiger Brands’ listeriosis victims caught in legal limbo

‘There is something seriously wrong with any society that would allow any corporation to sicken 1 065 unassuming victims and kill 218 with impunity. This is even more so when the entity is allowed to resume commercial operations at a great profit while its victims continue to suffer and die.’ So says lawyer Thamsanqa Malusi, of Marler Clark LLP, the Seattle-based law firm which helped in filing a class action in March 2019. This was in response to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases’ investigation into the listeriosis outbreak in SA – the world’s largest and deadliest – which concluded that Tiger Brands’ Polokwane meat processing facility was the source of the outbreak. ‘Tiger Brands’ lawyers and insurers have exploited every legal technicality available and flexed their economic muscle to frustrate the speedy resolution of the claims.’ Writing on the Daily Maverick site, Malusi notes that Tiger Brands’ latest bid is an interlocutory application ‘where it sought to subpoena virtually all major meat-processing facilities in the country and laboratories. Ostensibly, the company has argued that it needs the documents it has subpoenaed from third-party manufacturers and labs to inter alia prove that it was not the only party responsible for the outbreak.’ He says Tiger Brands has argued that claims cannot be resolved until the third-party subpoenas have been resolved. ‘This will inevitably, and I believe by design, lead to unimaginable delays in resolving the claims, more so considering the wide scope of Tiger Brands’ subpoenas – to which the manufacturers and labs have predictably objected. The subpoena fight is now before the SCA.’ Malusi notes the victims of the outbreak – whose interest in the matter ought to be of paramount importance – are without recourse three years after Tiger Brands was fingered. He says in the coming weeks, the attorneys will seek declaratory relief from the High Court for the company’s liability on behalf of the victims of the outbreak. ‘For the sake of the victims, I can only hope the court sees past legal technicalities.’