Woman sues over salmonella she says she got eating catered food from Brighton taco place three days before it was ordered shut

An employee of an accounting firm in the Hancock Building today sued Los Amigos Tacos for what she says were the horrifying effects of eating salmonella-contaminated food from its Brighton Center outlet three days before Boston health inspectors ordered the place shut due to a salmonella outbreak.

In her suit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, Kiley Flammia says suffered numerous effects from her infection, including a high fever, extreme pain and swelling in her right knee and "reactive arthritis" in her right knew, right foot and left wrist. Her complaint says she also required hospitalization and cortisone shots, was unable to work for "protracted periods of time" and developed an eating disorder.

Flammia says she was one of 16 Ernst & Young employees who partook of a $504 worth of Los Amigos food on May 15, as part of a training session that day. The money paid for a 23-person "make your own taco bar" package that included both grilled chicken and grilled steak along with various fillings and an order of 20 cream-filled churros, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit says Flammia became violently ill less than 24 hours later, to the point where she went to an emergency room for care.

On May 18, city health inspectors ordered the restaurant shut after receiving numerous reports of patrons getting sick. They allowed it to re-open in June, then ordered it shut again two weeks later after an inspector found new problems. It has been open since July, city records show.

According to her complaint, Flammia has racked up $19,000 in medical bills and has lost $10,000 in wages to date.

The complaint alleges negligence, breach of warranty, breach of contract and unfair business practices under the state consumer-protection law, and seeks double or treble damages, plus attorneys' fees.

At least two other people who say they ate Los Amigos food sued a few days after the initial closing. In its answer to one of the suits, Los Amigos says, among other things, that it did nothing wrong and that even if it did, the person who claims she got sick was mainly to blame, only it didn't and if the person was not to blame, some third party was.

Complete complaint (1.1M PDF).
Complaint cover sheet, which includes a breakdown of costs (83k PDF).
Los Amigos answer to one of the earlier suits (447k PDF).