An E. coli case was filed in Yellowstone County District Court last week.

A woman ate food she bought at the McDonald’s on Southgate Drive in Billings and then got sick.

The McDonald’s E. coli outbreak that affected 13 states across the country also affected Montana.

Thirteen cases have been reported, including eight in Yellowstone County, and lawsuits have now begun.

Billings resident Candina Craft says she ate a quarter pounder on September 29.

According to court documents, he had loss of appetite, nausea, abdominal pain and cramps.

Eight days later, he went to the emergency room, where a CT scan revealed wall thickening and inflammation of the colon.

“The injuries we see in these situations can be quite serious,” said Drew Falkenstein, Craft’s attorney. “They can be catastrophic and life-changing.”

Falkenstein represents Craft and other Montana victims, including a father and his 11-month-old daughter who shared a burger at McDonald’s in Belgrade.

The baby was hospitalized for more than a week.

Falkenstein’s firm, Marler Clark in Seattle, has filed cases on behalf of 19 people against McDonald’s, four in Montana.

“We represent a couple of families, in northwest Montana, in the Kalispell area, who had one person in their family die as a result of their illnesses in the McDonald’s outbreak,” Falkenstein said. “The cases filed in Gallatin and Yellowstone counties fortunately do not imply that outcome.”

Craft’s lawsuit against McDonald’s says he remains weak, sensitive to certain foods and has not regained his full appetite.

Federal investigators have identified sliced ​​onions from Taylor Farms in Colorado as the source of the outbreak.

Those onions were sent to about 900 McDonald’s restaurants.

“Their responsibilities are that if they detect it in some type of product sample, as may have happened in this case, then their obligation is obviously not to distribute that product,” Falkenstein said.

The lawsuits allege four counts, including two of negligence.

Falkenstein’s firm specializes in food safety cases and now represents more than a dozen victims nationwide and that number is expected to increase.

“I’m sure that in the coming months people will contact us,” Falkenstein said.

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