Chipotle Responds To 'Last Ditch Effort' By Attorneys To Revive Class Action Suit

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. CMG is unconcerned about a revived shareholder lawsuit alleging failure to disclose 14 known outbreaks of foodborne illness.

“It’s important to note that this class action suit has already been dismissed, and this latest activity is nothing more than a last-ditch effort to try to resurrect that suit,” Chipotle representative Chris Arnold told Benzinga.

Arnold claimed that an earlier investigation of outbreaks by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was ultimately inconclusive.

“Having simply been contacted by CDC to assist public health officials as they were undertaking a routine assessment of possible sources of an outbreak is not necessarily meaningful,” he said. "We were contacted by CDC regarding an evaluation they were conducting in late 2014 and provided the ingredient tracking information they requested. Based on our supply chain information, there was no clear link between the cases they were looking into and any of our restaurants.”

The outbreaks in question were said to have arisen between 2014 and 2015, and the CDC only reported six in the latter half of 2015. The Center has been reviewing the recent court filing but declined to comment on findings.

At time of publication, Chipotle was trading down 2 percent at a rate of $273.61.

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