Iowa woman sues Jimmy John’s over tainted sprouts

DES MOINES - An Iowa woman who recently fell ill after eating sprouts from Jimmy John's has filed a lawsuit accusing the sandwich chain of serving unsafe food.

Heather Tuttle filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Des Moines seeking damages for pain and suffering. Tuttle was diagnosed with E. coli poisoning after eating a Jimmy John's turkey sandwich in West Des Moines last month.

Tuttle and four other Iowans are among 12 patients in five states whose recent E. coli illnesses have been linked to raw sprouts from Jimmy John's restaurants.

Polly Carver-Kimm, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Health, said all of the Iowa patients have recovered. One of the cases was in Linn County; one in Johnson County; one in Dallas County and two in Polk County, she said.

The outbreak came a year after sprouts from one of the chain's suppliers were linked to 140 salmonella illnesses. Its sprouts also were linked to a 2009 salmonella outbreak and suspected in a Colorado E. coli outbreak in 2008.

The chain had no immediate comment on Tuttle's lawsuit.