Lawsuit alleges man died from E. coli in food prepared at Montgomery restaurant

Daniel Cornner was two weeks shy of turning 56 when he died on May 4, 2017. 

According to his family and an attorney who filed a lawsuit on their behalf, a Montgomery restaurant is to blame for Cornner’s death. 

Attorney Kenneth Ingram Jr. filed a wrongful death lawsuit on Tuesday against the Hibachi Sushi Supreme Buffet, the company that owns the Eastern Boulevard restaurant, Super Chow Time of Montgomery, and owner Huang Lin. 

The suit alleges that on April 23, 2017, Cornner was a customer at the Hibachi Sushi Supreme Buffet where he ate food prepared by the restaurant. Later, though the suit does not say how long after consuming the food, Cornner “became extremely ill requiring medical attention and treatment and became deceased.”

The lawsuit does not say what he ate at the restaurant. 

Cornner suffered from E. coli which resulted in septic shock and serious damage to several of his vital organs, according to the lawsuit. 

Patricia Cornner, the administrator of Daniel Cornner’s estate, declined to comment on the lawsuit and referred questions to her attorney. 

Efforts to reach Ingram were unsuccessful, and efforts to locate contact information for Lin were also unsuccessful. No attorney was listed for Lin, the restaurant or the corporation in court or state business records. A woman who answered the phone at the restaurant said they did not have a phone number for Lin. 

The lawsuit alleges that the restaurant had “a documented history of complaints made to and citations issued by the Montgomery Department of Public Health.”

Hibachi Sushi Supreme Buffet was given a health rating of 95 in January 2017, but the scores dropped to a 77 in June of that year and then again to a 73 in August. According to inspection numbers published by the Advertiser, the restaurant had repeated instances of raw or cooked meat being kept at the incorrect temperature in refrigerators. 

Restaurants that score between 85 and 100 are considered to be in satisfactory compliance and are inspected on routine schedule. Establishments that score between a 70 and 84 require a follow-up inspection within 60 days. A health rating following the August 2017 rating at the restaurant was not published in the Advertiser. 

In 2018, though, the restaurant increased the rating to a 92 in February, 93 in June and then dropped one point in November. 

E. coli is typically found in vegetables, leafy greens and undercooked ground beef, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Infections typically occur three to four days after consuming the bacteria and it can cause severe stomach cramps, diarrhea and vomiting for around five to seven days, according to the CDC.

In severe cases, patients may get hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure. Between 5% and 10% of people diagnosed with E. coli progress to the syndrome, which usually develops about seven days after symptoms first appear. 

According to the CDC, most people with hemolytic uremic syndrome recover within a few weeks, but some can suffer permanent damage or die. 

In early 2017, when Cornner is alleged to have eaten at the restaurant, there was an outbreak of E. coli in soy nut butter products between January and April, according to the CDC. Over 30 people were infected by the outbreak, 12 were hospitalized and nine developed hemolytic uremic syndrome. No one died, according to the CDC.

Of the 12 states where these reported outbreak cases occurred, none were in Alabama, according to the CDC.

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Kirsten Fiscus at 334-318-1798 or [email protected] Follow her on Twitter @KDFiscus