A class action lawsuit was filed last Friday against the Golden Corral restaurant, charging the buffet-style restaurant was negligent in last December ‘s norovirus outbreak in Casper, WY. Jason Ochs of the Casper-based Ochs Law Firm brought the case with Seattle attorney William Marler as co-counsel. Marler is managing partner of the nationally known food safety law firm of Marler Clark and publisher of Food Safety News. The Wyoming class action lawsuit follows release of report by the state epidemiologist, finding that Casper’s norovirus outbreak, from Nov. 17 to Dec. 19, was based at the the Golden Corral and spread in part by numerous employees who continued to work with symptoms of diarrhea and/or vomiting. The plaintiffs charge the restaurant did not do enough to prevent the outbreak, and was negligent both in food manufacturing and sale and in allowing employees to continue to work once infected with the quick-spreading virus. On behalf of the class, the plaintiffs are asking for an amount of damages that will be fully proven at the time of trial. They are seeking restitution for all costs and consequential damages. Ochs says the plaintiffs’ team is committed to “making sure this kind of outbreak never again happens to the community of Casper.” The Casper Golden Corral is one of hundreds of norovirus outbreaks that have occurred this winter during a stepped up cycle for the virus. At least 305 confirmed cases were associated with the Gold Corral outbreak in Wyoming. The state epidemiologist report said those cases might have only been “the tip of the iceberg.”