TALLAHASSEE, FLA. - The family of a Virginia man is alleging in a wrongful death lawsuit that he died after eating Boar’s Head meat and developing listeriosis following a product recall of the company’s product.

The lawsuit claims that Gunter Morgenstein, 88, purchased Boar’s Head liverwurst at a local retailer in Newport News, Va., on June 30 and consumed the product in sandwiches. After that, he experienced diarrhea, weakness and shortness of breath. He was taken to the hospital on July 8, where he was diagnosed with sepsis and listeriosis.

According to the lawsuit, his condition rapidly deteriorated, and he died on July 18.

The complaint noted that the attorneys representing Morgenstein are requesting a jury trial. The lawsuit was filed in the Circuit Court of the 12th Judicial District in and for Sarasota County, Fla.

Other litigation has been filed against Boar’s Head regarding this outbreak, but this is the first wrongful death case.

Boar’s Head updated the ongoing outbreak on its website on Aug. 29.

“Since this incident occurred in late July 2024, we immediately paused production at our Jarratt, Virginia facility,” the company said on its site. “We will not resume operations here until we are confident that all products from this facility meet USDA regulatory standards and Boar’s Head’s highest quality and safety standards.”

Boar’s Head said it has been working with the USDA, government regulatory agencies, and industry-leading global food safety experts on its investigation to determine what happened.

“We are very close to concluding our investigation and sharing our findings as soon as the USDA has reviewed them,” the company said. “We have long held an unwavering commitment to keeping our foods safe with standards at or exceeding regulatory requirements. But, here, our best efforts failed, and we are deeply sorry. We are working to implement the appropriate actions at our Jarratt facility to prevent something like this from occurring again. While production is now paused at this facility, we are taking this opportunity to conduct disinfection, enhance procedures and policies where needed, and provide additional training to employees.” 

Boar’s Head said most products produced at other plants are not affected by the recall.

Since the Listeria investigation first opened on July 19, a total of 57 persons have been hospitalized across 18 states. In its latest update, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported six more recent deaths in Florida, Tennessee, New Mexico, New York and two in South Carolina. A total of nine people have died. 

Boar’s Head issued a recall on July 26 for over 200,000 lbs of liverwurst products and other ready-to-eat deli meat products. 

Within a few days, the company expanded the recall to include 7 million additional lbs of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products.

Last week, a USDA Freedom of Information (FOIA) request showed that the Boar’s Head plant in Jarratt produced meat items that were linked to a Listeria outbreak that led to several deaths.

According to documents released under the FOIA, government inspectors logged 69 instances of “noncompliance” with federal rules over the last year. 

The complete list of recalled items is available here.