MARLER CLARK - Key Persons
An accomplished attorney and national expert in food safety, William (Bill) Marler has become the most prominent foodborne illness lawyer in America and a major force in food policy in the U.S. and around the world. Over the last 30 years, Marler Clark, Inc., P.S., The Food Safety Law Firm, has represented thousands of individuals in claims against food companies whose contaminated products have caused life altering injury and even death.
Bill began litigating foodborne illness cases in 1993, when he represented Brianne Kiner, the most seriously injured survivor of the historic Jack in the Box E. coli O157:H7 outbreak, in her landmark $15.6 million settlement with the company. The 2011 book, Poisoned: The True Story of the Deadly E. coli Outbreak that Changed the Way Americans Ea t, by best-selling author Jeff Benedict, chronicles the Jack in the Box outbreak and the rise of Bill Marler as a food safety attorney. The book is soon to be a Netflix series.
For the last 30 years, Bill has represented victims of every large foodborne illness outbreak in the United States and has consulted on cases in Europe, Asia and Africa. He has filed lawsuits against such companies as Cargill, Chili's, Chi-Chi's, Chipotle, ConAgra, Dole, Excel, Golden Corral, KFC, McDonald's, Odwalla, Peanut Corporation of America, Sheetz, Sizzler, Supervalu, Taco Bell and Wendy's. Through his work, he has secured over $850,000,000 for victims of E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria, Hepatitis and other foodborne illnesses.
Among the most notable cases he has litigated, Bill counts those of nineteen-year-old dancer Stephanie Smith, who was sickened by an E. coli-contaminated hamburger that left her brain damaged and paralyzed, and Linda Rivera, a fifty-seven-year-old mother of six from Nevada, who was hospitalized for over 2 years after she was stricken with what her doctor described as "the most severe multi-organ [bowel, kidney, brain, lung, gall bladder, and pancreas] case of E. coli mediated HUS I have seen in my extensive experience."
Mr. Clark has an extensive background in civil litigation, including personal injury, product liability and professional malpractice actions. Mr. Clark did defense work at the Seattle firm Karr Tuttle Campbell for nearly 15 years before he joined the firm in a practice devoted to representing injured persons. As a former principal at the firm, Mr. Clark is now of counsel for Marler Clark, Inc., P.S..
In 1993, Mr. Clark became involved in foodborne illness litigation as an attorney for Jack in the Box restaurants in its E. coli O157:H7 personal injury litigation. The Jack in the Box litigation spanned more than four years and involved more than 100 lawsuits in four states. Since that time, Mr. Clark has been continuously involved in food and waterborne illness litigation involving bacterial, viral, and parasitic agents in settings ranging from large scale outbreaks to individual cases. These include cases involving, among other pathogens, E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria, Shigella, Campylobacter, hepatitis A, and Cryptosporidium. He has extensive expertise in the medical, microbiological, and epidemiological aspects of foodborne illness cases gleaned from more than a decade of working with leading experts across the country. He also has a special interest in the hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a rare complication of Shiga toxin producing E. coli bacterial infections. From his background as a defense attorney, he possesses practical insight into the functioning of corporations and their insurers.
Mr. Clark has litigated cases across the country in both state and federal courts, in addition to handling cases in Washington state. He has a special interest in the intersection of epidemiology and medical as a tool for identifying the source of serious foodborne illnesses. He has extensive experience in mass torts and has fashioned out of court procedures to assist victims of large foodborne outbreaks navigate to a less costly and time-consuming resolution of their claims. He works on cases from self-limited foodborne illnesses to catastrophic injury and death.
Mr. Clark has tried numerous jury cases in state and federal courts and has litigated cases in state and federal courts from coast to coast. In addition to his work on food and waterborne pathogen cases, Mr. Clark handles general personal injury cases. He frequently speaks to public health groups as well as food industry groups about the realities of foodborne illness litigation and efforts that can help avoid the damage foodborne pathogens inflict.
He has extensive experience in alternative dispute resolution and has successfully mediated hundreds of lawsuits. Mr. Clark has an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell, and is listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers.
Mr. Clark has two sons and likes to spend time gardening.
Denis W. Stearns is a former principal in Marler Clark, Inc., P.S.. He is currently of counsel at the firm. Denis Stearns was a founding partner of Marler Clark, having first worked as one of the lead defense attorneys representing Jack in the Box in the extensive and complex litigation arising from the 1993 E. coli O157:H7 outbreak. He then switched to the plaintiff-side, joining Bill Marler in representing those injured in the 1996 Odwalla outbreak caused by unpasteurized apple juice contaminated with the same deadly pathogens that had caused the Jack in the Box outbreak. It was as the Odwalla cases were successfully resolved that Marler Clark, the food safety law firm, was founded.
Denis worked as a partner at Marler Clark for thirteen years, handling all things litigation-related, in both state and federal court, all across the country. He earned a well-deserved reputation as an astute strategist, using all aspects of the pretrial process to advance and protect the interests of the firm's clients. He is especially well known, and respected, for his skills in creating and implementing the most effective discovery plans, and for motion-practice and brief-writing. He also handled all of the appellate work for the firms, notably winning an appeal that protected a multi-million-dollar jury verdict in a lawsuits against a school district in Washington state, and gaining the reversal of a trial court's ruling that had dismissed the claims of victims injured in an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak at two Milwaukee-area Sizzler restaurants. The latter appeal was argued all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, creating important legal precedent concerning the legal liability of meat manufacturers.
Denis left Marler Clark in 2011 to become a full-time professor at Seattle University School of Law, where he taught the first- and second-year legal writing courses, as well as torts, products liability, and food law and policy. He returned to Marler Clark as an Of Counsel attorney in the summer of 2014, while remaining an Adjunct Professor teaching food law. He continues to work with Marler Clark on selected cases involving class action lawsuits and federal court litigation, especially those cases arising from Hepatitis A outbreaks. Denis also practices law in Port Townsend, Washington where he now lives mostly full-time with his husband, Thomas Shaw, and his two rescue dogs, Dashiell and Dickens. He is also on the Jefferson County Local Food System Council.
Denis is a widely-published author and frequents speaker and presenter on a wide array of topics related to food, law, and policy. His two most recent law review articles are Pay No Attention to That Man Behind the Curtain: Concealment, Revelation, and the Question of Food Safety, 30 Seattle University Law Review (Summer 2015) and PROSSER'S BAIT-AND-SWITCH: How Food Safety Was Sacrificed In The Battle For Tort's Empire, 15 Nevada Law Review (Fall 2014). He also has another book-chapter about to come out: "A Critical Appraisal of the Impact of Legal Action on the Creation of Incentives for Improvements in Food Safety in the United States," in Food Safety Economics-Incentives for a Safer Food Supply, Tanya Roberts, PhD, Editor (upcoming, Springer 2018).
Denis graduated from Seattle University, where he earned a 4.0 GPA and degree in philosophy. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin School of Law with high honors.
Derick joined Marler Clark, Inc., P.S. in January 2021, after graduating from Seattle University School of Law Magna Cum Laude in May 2020. Prior to joining Marler Clark, Derick worked as a Rule 9 Prosecutor for the City of Bothell, where he gained valuable trial experience. While in law school, Derick was Vice President of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Board, a member of the Moot Court Board, and earned CALI Awards for achieving the highest grade in several classes.
At Marler Clark, Derick's responsibilities include drafting pleadings, motions, and settlement demand letters; conducting discovery; and preparing for depositions, mediations, and trials. Derick has worked on cases related to a variety of foodborne illness outbreaks including E. coli, Salmonella, hepatitis A, and Listeria.
Prior to attending law school, Derick spent several years as a member of the US Sailing Team, competing internationally in the Laser class, and working as a professional sailor in several capacities. When he is not working, he enjoys sailing, skiing, tennis, and soccer.
Drew Falkenstein is of counsel at Marler Clark, Inc., P.S., focusing on the litigation of complex food injury cases. For fourteen years he has represented injured people against some of the biggest food companies in the world, including Dole, Kellogg's, Darden Restaurants, Cargill, ConAgra, and Wal-Mart. He has worked on landmark cases that have helped shape food safety policy, laws, and regulations.
Over the course of his career, Drew has obtained substantial settlements for clients, whose injuries have ranged from self-limited foodborne illnesses through wrongful death and other catastrophic injuries. He is experienced in all phases of litigation, having handled injury cases in state and federal courts across the country.
Drew has also been an invited presenter at industry and regulatory conferences across the country. He speaks on the intersection of law and public health, and addresses companies on how to prevent food borne illness outbreaks. He has frequently been called upon by the media to discuss outbreaks in the news, including appearances on Good Morning America, MSNBC, and the Newshour on PBS.
New York Times reporter Michael Moss won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of Smith's case, which was settled by Cargill in 2010 for an amount "to care for her throughout her life." Linda's story hit the front page of the Washington Post and became Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's touchstone for successfully moving forward the Food Safety Modernization Act in 2010.