A Missouri couple has filed a lawsuit against Hereford House related to alleged food contamination at the iconic steakhouse’s flagship Leawood restaurant.
On Friday, McHarlan and Barbara Bishop of Jackson County, Missouri, filed a civil suit in Johnson County District Court against the restaurant, claiming it failed to adequately vet, train or supervise Jace Hanson, an ex-kitchen worker who faces a criminal charge for intentionally contaminating food.
The Bishops’ complaint says they both became ill after having lunch at the restaurant on April 18, with Barbara vomiting “numerous times” and both suffering symptoms “consistent with food poisoning.”
This is the second such lawsuit filed against Hereford House this month after Hanson’s arrest in late April. A Clay County man filed a nearly identical lawsuit a week before the Bishops, claiming he also came down ill after eating at the restaurant in early April.
Ex-kitchen worker arrested in late April
In late April, Hanson, 21, was charged with one count of criminal threat in Johnson County District Court for intentional food contamination.
Prosecutors say he urinated and rubbed his genitals on food at Hereford House on several occasions in April and posted videos of himself doing so online.
Hereford House officials have said Hanson worked at the restaurant for less than a month, before he was arrested on April 25, following a tip to the FBI.
The Bishops’ lawsuit, similar to the one filed before it, says Hanson was hired at the restaurant in late March. A previously released criminal affidavit says Hanson admitted to contaminating the food on multiple occasions in early April, with the last known act occurring on April 23.
According to the affidavit, Hanson told detectives that he was meeting male subjects online through apps like Grindr and Sniffy’s who made requests for him to make videos of him contaminating food.
Hundreds of customers have reached out to investigators
On May 15, Leawood Police announced that test results for Hanson showed “no ongoing risk to patrons” for infectious diseases.
Since putting out a request for responses from customers who ate at the restaurant during the dates Hanson worked, Leawood Police announced more than 330 people reached out to them.
The Bishops are requesting a jury trial. No court date is set for the case. Requests for comment from Hereford House about the new civil lawsuit were not immediately returned.
Lawsuits accuse Hereford House of negligence
After becoming aware of Hanson’s alleged actions, the Bishops’ lawsuit states they both continue to suffer emotional and psychological distress.
“Plantiffs’ continue to experience anxiety and distress, including fear of future distress or medical harm, as a result of their ingestion of contaminated food at (Hereford House) in April, 2024,” the complaint says.
Their lawsuit accuses Hereford House of being negligent in its hiring, training, retention and supervision of its employees, as well as having improper maintenance of its kitchen.
It also claims the company is liable because it sold contaminated food to customers and breached an implied warranty with customers by selling food that was “unsanitary, unsafe, defective and unreasonably dangerous.”
Lawyers representing the Bishops, who are also representing the Clay County man also suing Hereford House, did not immediately respond to the Post’s request for comment.
Restaurant group stands behind Hereford House
Though the Hereford House did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story, in a previous statement to news outlets, the restaurant detailed the process it took to sanitize the Leawood location.
“We immediately destroyed all the food in the kitchen and did a thorough cleaning and sanitizing of the kitchen and surrounding areas,” the restaurant said in a press release. “We also immediately spoke with the health authorities from the state of Kansas responsible for restaurant inspections.”
The restaurant has taken all the right steps, said Trey Meyers, Director of Marketing for the Missouri Restaurant Association, which provides guidance and education to restaurant and hospitality businesses in the area. Hereford House is a member of its Greater Kansas City chapter.
“They contacted the Health Department as soon as they knew the situation and they coordinated with them,” he said. “(The Health Department) said they were up to code and everything was squared away to alleviate any consumer concerns.”
The case is an uncommon incident for the steakhouse, Meyers added.
“This was definitely one of those isolated incident cases of an individual that had no history, no priors, of an incident like this happening before,” he said. “He kind of just did these heinous acts just out of pure enjoyment (from) what it seems, from all the reports and documents that we read about the situation.”
This cycle of unfortunate news and lawsuits is one that Meyers believes Hereford House — a long-standing brand in the Kansas City area — will weather.
“It’s one of those things that we just coordinate (and) they coordinate with certain enforcement entities that they need to to make sure their situation gets resolved and everything is safe and up to code,” he said. “From an association standpoint, we stand behind the Hereford House and we support them in any way that we possibly can, since they’re a strong member of our Kansas City Chapter and our organization as well.”
Hanson remains in custody at the Johnson County Adult Detention Center in New Century on $100,000 bond. His next court date is scheduled for June 6.
Go deeper: Missouri man sues Hereford House in Leawood over food contamination
