DAILY IOWAN (Iowa City, Iowa) 24 September 07 Snake head among beans sparks suit (Samantha Miller)
A Riverside couple have filed a lawsuit stemming from an unpleasant discovery in their Cub Foods' green beans - a snake head.
Amy and Michael Schneider are suing Wisconsin-based Lakeside Foods and its parent company, SuperValu Inc., for mental anguish caused by the unsettling incident, according to the Schneiders' attorney, Randy Larson.
He said the Schneiders found the golfball-sized serpent head and sent it to Lakeside Foods, which confirmed the Wisconsin-indiginous snake was indeed in the bean can because of company fault.
Lakeside Foods reportedly offered the Schneiders coupons to its stores for compensation.
Larson said the Schneiders are choosing to sue for an unspecified amount, more than a year after the incident took place, because of what they label inadequate compensation offered by the food companies' insurance agencies - something Larson said amounts to a conflict of interests between the produce purveyors and the insurance agency.
"It's a big issue," he said. "In my mind, the reason we finally decided we had to file the lawsuit was because we couldn't settle with the insurance companies. There are certain aspects to this issue that are unfortunate."
When the Schneiders tried to settle, the compensation they asked for was referred to the insurance agencies.
"In this case, the insurance didn't offer much in compensation because insurance agencies have different interests from that of the food company," Larson said.
He thinks the companies sued would want to have the Schneiders' complaint settled out of court, he said, to keep it out of the public's attention. Larson said insurance agencies' priorities are to pay as little money as possible.
"We just tried, and tried, and tried [to settle]," the attorney said. "We just got nowhere. We wanted mediation, but the insurance agency wouldn't reach with us a reasonable offer at all."
Lakeside Foods and SuperValu Inc. could not be reached for comment Sunday.
Lakeside Foods recalled 15,000 cases of the green beans in August, according to a release. The recall wasn't attributed to the reptilian incident but to a "potential problem during routine internal monitoring."
Larson said that if the Schneiders were to be offered a "reasonable" settlement by the companies, they would drop the suit.
"They just want simple justice in terms of what they went through," he said. "[The suit] is just the next step to get the proper compensation."
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