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Taco Takes Out Olympic Athlete by Susanne Brown
Taco Takes Out Olympic Athlete by Susanne Brown 
Here is a lawyer story that you may find hard to believe.
Back in the early summer of 2004, an Olympic hopeful walked into the Guadalupe Street Chipotle on the Drag Restaurant to order a barbacoa taco. When happened after that turned out to rather hard to believe.
The Chipotle on the Drag Restaurant is well known for it enormous burritos and is based in Denver. Thomas Engwall was a UT kinesiology graduate student, who was trying out for the US Olympic javelin throwing team.
He had won the Big 12 championship and was hoping to make the team at the next tryout in one month. Unfortunately he would never get the chance.
According to Engwall's lawyer, Thomas got very sick with abdominal cramps and pain accompanied with vomiting after eating his taco at Chipotle. Other symptoms included dehydration and diarrhea.
Finally, Thomas lost about 20 pounds from the illness. This in turn caused him to lose the next tryout and miss the Olympic team.
His lawyer claimed the illness was from food poisoning from the restaurant and contributed to his failure to make the Olympic team.
Thomas Engwall and his lawyer sued Chipotle Restaurant and the restaurant's manager. The defense claimed Thomas ate the taco that afternoon and got sick later that evening. His lawyer also mentioned that other students got sick from eating at Chipotle Restaurant two days later. The health department then proceeded to inspect the restaurant and the barbacoa taco that made Thomas sick. The restaurant passed the inspection, but in the ensuing days more people became ill after eating there. Because of the continued reports of illness, the restaurant did end up closing for three days. Employees took the week off to help lower the chances of contamination. One of the employees did test positive for a norovirus in her system. This made the health officials believe that the illness was not from food poisoning, but from her unintentional spread of the virus onto the food being served at the restaurant. This virus is well known for causing abdominal irritation, diarrhea and vomiting. These are also the same viruses that cause outbreaks on cruise ships. This employee took a total of two weeks paid leave just to be on the safe side. She believes she may have contracted the illness while cleaning vomit from a bathroom floor at the restaurant. The health department found no other signs of negligence.
The suit did end up going to court. The result of the trial is not known. The winner of the tryout that Thomas lost finished 12th in the Olympic games in Athens.
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Back in the early summer of 2004, an Olympic hopeful walked into the Guadalupe Street Chipotle on the Drag Restaurant to order a barbacoa taco. When happened after that turned out to rather hard to believe.
Thomas Engwall and his lawyer sued Chipotle Restaurant and the restaurant's manager. The defense claimed Thomas ate the taco that afternoon and got sick later that evening. His lawyer also mentioned that other students got sick from eating at Chipotle Restaurant two days later. The health department then proceeded to inspect the restaurant and the barbacoa taco that made Thomas sick. The restaurant passed the inspection, but in the ensuing days more people became ill after eating there. Because of the continued reports of illness, the restaurant did end up closing for three days. Employees took the week off to help lower the chances of contamination. One of the employees did test positive for a norovirus in her system. This made the health officials believe that the illness was not from food poisoning, but from her unintentional spread of the virus onto the food being served at the restaurant. This virus is well known for causing abdominal irritation, diarrhea and vomiting. These are also the same viruses that cause outbreaks on cruise ships. This employee took a total of two weeks paid leave just to be on the safe side. She believes she may have contracted the illness while cleaning vomit from a bathroom floor at the restaurant. The health department found no other signs of negligence.
The suit did end up going to court. The result of the trial is not known. The winner of the tryout that Thomas lost finished 12th in the Olympic games in Athens.
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