LOS ANGELES, March 23 (UPI) -- Boskovich Farms Inc., of Oxnard, Calif., is suing Taco Bell, alleging millions of dollars were lost due to false E. coli claims by the fast food chain.
The suit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, accuses Taco Bell of libel for falsely identifying the vegetable grower's green onions -- described by the company's Web site as its "signature product" -- as the source of a 2006 E. coli outbreak, the Ventura County (Calif.) Star reported Friday.
Boskovich claims it lost millions of dollars in business when Taco Bell made the false identification and refused to cease linking the onions to the outbreak, which affected 70 Taco bell customers, even after bosses at the fast food chain discovered they were not the cause.
"We've been massacred," said Tom Girardi, a Los Angeles attorney for Boskovich Farms. "The bottom line is going to be several million dollars because it isn't just our Taco Bell contract, but nobody else with good cause wanted to buy our onions either. I don't blame them for that."
