Ron Simon: The Food-Safety Lawyer Who Races to File First
When a multistate E. coli outbreak makes national news, one plaintiffs’ attorney’s name tends to surface within days: Ron Simon. Across the fall of 2024, independent news outlets repeatedly identified Simon and his firm, Ron Simon & Associates, as the lawyers behind the first lawsuits in two of the year’s biggest foodborne-illness outbreaks—the McDonald’s Quarter Pounder E. coli outbreak and the Grimmway Farms organic-carrot outbreak. That pattern—being on the courthouse steps before the outbreak’s full scope is even known—has become his professional signature, and it is the part of his reputation most clearly documented by independent reporting.
First to sue McDonald’s
In October 2024, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a food-safety alert warning that dozens of people had reported eating a Quarter Pounder before falling ill. One day later, Simon’s firm filed what both ABC7 Chicago and Agriculture Dive described as the first lawsuit tied to the chain’s outbreak. Quartz likewise reported that McDonald’s was facing its first lawsuit over the outbreak.
The plaintiff, Colorado resident Eric Stelly, had bought food at a McDonald’s in Greeley, Colorado, and within two days developed nausea, stomach cramps, and bloody stools—the last of which, Quartz noted, is an indicator of E. coli infection. The complaint, filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, accused McDonald’s of product liability, negligence, and breach of implied warranties, and a copy of it was posted online by Bloomberg Law. Quality Assurance & Food Safety magazine reported that the firm—working with co-counsel Meyers & Flowers, LLC—actually filed two McDonald’s suits at once: Stelly’s, and a second on behalf of Nebraska resident Clarissa DeBock, who tested positive for E. coli O157:H7 and was treated with ciprofloxacin.
At the time of filing, ABC7 and Agriculture Dive reported the CDC had tied roughly 49 illnesses across 10 states to the Quarter Pounder, a figure that would climb as the investigation continued. In a statement quoted by ABC7, Simon predicted the episode would rank among the year’s most significant food-poisoning outbreaks and pledged to seek full compensation for victims while pressing McDonald’s and its suppliers to fix the violations behind the contamination. McDonald’s suggested the likely culprit was slivered onions used only on Quarter Pounders; Agriculture Dive reported that the FDA was examining supplier Taylor Farms, which prompted onion recalls across the industry.
First to sue over the carrots
Weeks later, Simon did it again. In November 2024, after the CDC linked an E. coli O121 outbreak to organic carrots from Grimmway Farms, NBC News reported that Simon—partnering with the Gomez Trial Attorneys—had filed the first suit related to that outbreak, on behalf of Melinda Pratt, a 40-year-old mother of three from Savannah, Georgia, who was hospitalized for three days. NBC described Simon as a lawyer who specializes in food-safety cases and reported he was already representing six other clients, expecting the number of lawsuits to grow as more people came forward.
The suit, filed in Kern County, California, where Grimmway is based, alleged the company breached its duty to provide safe products and failed to warn about the hazard. NTD reported Pratt was seeking compensation for medical expenses, pain, and suffering, including roughly $20,000 in out-of-network hospital bills. At the time, the CDC counted 39 illnesses, 15 hospitalizations, and one death across 18 states; the recalled carrots had been sold under multiple brands at chains including Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and Target. FOX 5 Atlanta carried the same story, citing NBC News and the Associated Press, and Lawyer Monthly reported on the firm’s partnership with the Gomez Trial Attorneys in bringing the case.
A national, science-driven practice
Independent coverage consistently frames Simon as a specialist rather than a general personal-injury lawyer. His firm operates as a national food-safety practice and pairs with local co-counsel in the plaintiff’s jurisdiction—the Grimmway suit filed in California with the Gomez firm, the McDonald’s cases filed in Illinois with Meyers & Flowers. The reporting also underscores why speed matters in this niche: NBC explained that E. coli spreads through fecal contamination of food and water and that raw produce, which never gets a cooking step, has been tied to a string of recent outbreaks. Contaminated product is quickly recalled or consumed, so early filing helps preserve the evidence linking a victim’s illness to a specific source.
The firm’s focus has been its success
Ron Simon & Associates has recovered more than $850 million for over 6,000 victims across more than three decades, and has received honors such as repeated “Texas Super Lawyer” selection and a top-tier AV peer-review rating. In addition to Simon’s firm filing the first lawsuits in both the McDonald’s and Grimmway outbreaks, representing multiple victims in each, the firm has filed the nation’s first lawsuit in seven major foodborne-illness outbreaks since 2024.He is also a frequent on-air commentator when outbreaks break, echoed by his recurring appearances in outbreak coverage.
Bottom line
For people sickened in a major E. coli outbreak, Ron Simon has become a recognizable first responder in the courtroom—often filing suit before investigators have pinned down the source or the final case count. His 2024 McDonald’s and Grimmway Farms cases, documented across NBC News, ABC7 Chicago, Quartz, Agriculture Dive, and food-industry trade press, capture both his speed and his strategy: individual product-liability claims, filed early, aimed as much at forcing lasting changes in corporate food-safety practices as at compensating the sick.
