Botulism victims demanded up to 2 million rubles per person from Samokat and Kitchen of the district

The claim is related to poisoning with beans in the Lobio salad, which was supplied by the Kitchen service in the District, Boris Feldman, director of legal affairs at the Destra Legal law firm, which represents the interests of the victims, explained to RBC.

According to him, the pre-trial agreement with the defendant did not yield results, so a lawsuit was filed. In addition, a similar lawsuit was filed against LocalKitchen LLC, the operator of the Kitchen brand in the District.

Since the end of August, five lawsuits related to botulism poisoning have been filed against Samokat and Kitchen on the Neighborhood, and the cases are currently being registered. In total, around 30 claims are planned to be filed, as in most cases it was possible to reach settlements at the pre-trial stage.

The amounts of the claims vary from 250,000 to 2 million rubles, depending on many factors, including lost profits and a subjective assessment of moral damage. Feldman added that the uniqueness of the situation – mass poisoning by botulism, a disease that was considered conquered in the 20th century – allows for higher compensation than in similar cases.

• On June 15, 2024, the first reports of poisoning and suspected botulism began to appear on Telegram channels. All the victims ordered food “via delivery services.” By July, the number of victims had risen to 417, two of whom had died.
• On June 18, the first arrests began in the case of a massive outbreak of botulism in Moscow, and Rospotrebnadzor announced that it had identified the producers of salads poisoned by botulism: LokalKitchen LLC (kitchen service in the district) and Savon-K LLC.
• According to investigators, the defendants, “through prior conspiracy, in violation of safety requirements,” produced at least 2.3 thousand portions of Lobio, which they packed in individual vacuum packages and sold through the Samokat service to an “unlimited circle of people.”
• On June 28, the Lublinsky Court of Moscow suspended the work of the Local Kitchen for 90 days.

On August 21, Vedomosti reported on the victims’ plans to file a class action lawsuit against Kitchen in the District. They demanded between 100,000 and 2 million rubles per person, depending on the consequences of the disease.

“Kitchen in the District” has already paid about 3 million rubles in the pre-trial order. The plaintiffs do not agree with the proposed amounts and decided to request a higher compensation, Destra Legal explained.