$40,000 award over tainted meal

OMAHA, Neb. — A police officer and his family have won $40,000 in their lawsuit against a restaurant that had served them food tainted by an employee's spit and urine.

A jury on Friday ruled in favor of Sidney police Officer Keith Andrew, whose two sons, then 4 and 7, were sickened by the food they ate at a KFC/Taco Bell in October 2005. Sidney is a town of about 6,000 in western Nebraska.

The younger boy became violently ill with gastroenteritis and dehydration, vomited for hours and was forced to spend time in a hospital, the family's lawsuit said.

The lawsuit, filed last year in Cheyenne County District Court, named the restaurant's owner, North Platte-based Mid Plains Food and Lodging.

A KFC spokesman, Rick Maynard, said KFC is committed to the highest levels of food safety.

"Our franchise does not agree with the court's verdict, and they are looking at their legal options," Maynard said Monday.

Workers who saw a fellow employee taint the family's food reported it to management, but the managers didn't inform the family, the lawsuit alleged.

The employee accused of urinating and spitting in the Andrew family's food, Casey Diedrich, pleaded guilty last year to violating the Nebraska Pure Food Act and was fined $100, according to court records.

A company spokesman said last year that Diedrich eventually was fired for missing work, but not for any of the incidents the lawsuit cited.