A class action lawsuit against a Fairview berry processor was filed Wednesday afternoon in Portland, marking the latest litigation against Townsend Farms in connection with a hepatitis A outbreak.

The complaint was filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court on behalf of Leslie M. Straka, a woman in Eugene. It says she consumed Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend several times in May and June before learning about the outbreak.

Straka received a hepatitis A vaccine on June 5 to prevent infection and suffered emotional distress over worries that she might get sick, the complaint says. The vaccine, if given within two weeks of exposure, prevents the virus from taking hold.

More

The lawsuit seeks to represent everyone else in Oregon like Straka who paid for medical care but did not get sick. The suit was filed by Portland attorney David Sugerman, who's working with Bill Marler, a Seattle food safety litigator. His law firm, Marler Clark, has filed complaints against Townsend Farms in Arizona and California, on behalf of people who got sick. A Houston firm has filed a similar suit in California as well. And Marler Clark is filing class action complaints in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Washington.

The outbreak grew to 99 people on Wednesday, according to the

. So far, no cases have been identified in Oregon. But the outbreak has grown daily it

nearly two weeks ago.

Costco, which sold nearly 333,000 packages of Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend across the country, pulled the item off its shelves and notified customers. It also took the unusual step nearly a week ago of offering free hepatitis A vaccine to its customers who consumed the mix within 14 days.

The Townsend Farms mix was also sold by Harris Teeter stores on the East Coast under its own label but so far only patients who bought the product at Costco got sick, according to the CDC.

The lawsuit accuses Townsend Farms of negligence and seeks the creation of a fund to pay for medical costs for Straka and others who received vaccinations or immune globulin shots. That fund would also reimburse Costco for its expenses, pay health insurers and state and federal governments for the cost of the investigation.

Health officials suspect the outbreak was caused by pomegranate seeds from Turkey. The product also included cherries from Washington state and berries from Chile and Argentina.

-- Lynne Terry