Aspen Lamfers (left inset), pictured while in the hospital (photo released by her family); (right) the Wendy’s location in Jenison, Michigan (WOOD/screengrab)
The family of an 11-year-old softball player who nearly died after stopping at a Jenison, Michigan, Wendy’s for a bite to eat over the summer of 2022 is now suing the company that operates the restaurant, claiming that well-documented extremely dirty conditions at the location led to an E. coli infection, kidney failure, and lasting brain damage.
The $20 million dollar lawsuit, filed in early April by the law firm Gruel Mills Nims & Pylman, PLLC on behalf of mother Joy Lamfers in Ottawa County Circuit Court, identified the child as Aspen Lamfers. According to the complaint obtained by Law&Crime, the plaintiff believes that a known E. coli outbreak across multiple states in late July 2022, linked to Wendy’s lettuce, explained how Aspen contracted the infection even though she did not eat lettuce on Aug. 1, 2022.
Attorney Tom Worsfold during an interview with WOOD said the “Biggie Bag” Aspen ordered, containing a burger, fries, and chicken nuggets, must have been cross-contaminated.
Calling it “almost a miracle” that Aspen didn’t die from the health crisis that ensued, the lawyer noted the girl first started feeling severely ill three days after eating at the Wendy’s following softball practice.
Aspen Lamfers (photo released by her family)
The lawsuit detailed that the infection caused Aspen to become “critically ill,” leading to “acute kidney injury/failure,” permanent brain damage, a seizure disorder, pancreatitis, diabetes, hypertension, and more.
“Before Aspen’s infection progressed to the point that she became non-verbal, she cried out ‘Why am I so sick? Why? And it’s so bad!”” the lawsuit said. “When Aspen’s left side of her whole body became effectively paralyzed, she struggled to drink water from a straw.”
The lawsuit said Aspen suffered throughout August 2022 and was discharged from an inpatient facility on Sept. 9, 2022, more than a month after eating Wendy’s.
“Aspen underwent physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, nursing care, counseling, and medical supervision and management, including continued kidney dialysis,” the complaint said, noting that the girl’s kidney’s were “severely damaged.”
The lawsuit said Aspen “has struggled academically” in the years since, her reading level dropping two grades and her math score plummeting.
The plaintiff noted that the Ottawa County Health Department inspected the Wendy’s location in question on July 27, 2022 — just days before Aspen ate there — and found “gross insanitary conditions […] throughout the facility,” as well as myriad “health and food code violations” for mold and “pest harborage.”
One week after Aspen got sick, the Ottawa County Health Department “identified a connection” between the “unusual increase in hospitalizations” locally for E. coli infections and the Wendy’s location, the suit said.
The plaintiff seeks a jury trial on negligence and gross negligence claims, as well as $20 million in damages, for Aspen’s “permanent disability,” “[p]ast and future extreme pain and suffering,” and “[l]oss of life expectancy” following her “[p]oisoning with the STEC bacteria.”
Law&Crime reached out to Meritage Hospitality Group for comment.
Read the lawsuit here.
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