Wrongful death lawsuit filed in listeria death of Felton woman

A local family is suing a grocery store giant, alleging a tainted caramel apple is responsible for a deadly listeria infection. This case is part of a multi-state outbreak and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it’s still trying to pinpoint the source.

A family attorney tells NewsChannel 5 the woman bought pre-packaged, commercially produced caramel apples at a Safeway in Felton on at least two occasions. About a month later, family members said doctors determined she died of a listeria infection.

“You know there was something going on but they couldn’t put their finger on it, there was an area of the brain that didn’t look right, there was some swelling,” said Brad Frey.

Frey said his mother, 81-year-old Shirlee Jean Frey, had an accident a few weeks before, which quite possibly lead to doctors discovering the infection.

“Our mom fell in the kitchen, nobody witnessed her go down, my dad heard the chair slide out, so we don’t really know why she fell,” Frey said.

During an initial trip to Stanford Hospital, Frey said his mom was sent home after treatment for a brain hemorrhage. But on Thanksgiving morning, rehab nurses weren’t able to wake her up.

“It’s been a rough month, kind of a roller coaster because we really thought you know she had gotten through the worst of it and she was, you know we were gonna get our mom back so,” Frey said.

Shirlee Jean Frey died Dec. 2 and family members said they started looking for answers after learning about 28 other reported cases of listeria infection, including five deaths. One family member still had several apples left over from the original purchase around Halloween.

“About that same time the health department had already contacted out father because my brother had called my dad across the street,” Frey said.

Frey said the health department picked up the apples as evidence. Now family members await more information, following a wrongful death lawsuit filed on Monday in Santa Cruz County.

“The goal in most food-borne illness cases is not just compensation for the horror that this family has gone through but you know to figure out why it happened and how to prevent the next one,” said attorney Bill Marler.

They Freys said it may be awhile before they get answers. In the meantime, they’ve been told Safeway pulled all commercially produced, pre-packaged caramel apples from its shelves. NewsChannel 5 contacted Safeway and is still waiting to hear back.