A 68-year-old Chicago woman says a double cheeseburger and baked potato she ordered for delivery from a South Side Wendy's left her hospitalized twice with a bacterial intestinal infection, racking up $93,578 in medical bills. Roxie Ellis Douglas filed suit against the fast-food chain, accusing it of negligence, strict product liability and breach of the warranty of wholesomeness.
According to a court complaint detailed by NBC 5 Chicago, Douglas alleged she became ill after eating a Wendy's meal delivered via DoorDash from the location at 8645 S. Stony Island Ave. on the South Side. The complaint states she contracted a Campylobacter intestinal infection on August 5, 2025, and went on to suffer gastroenteritis, acute infectious colitis, leukocytosis, dehydration and hypokalemia secondary to diarrhea. Her medical bills, which totaled $93,578, included two hospitalizations, the outlet reported.
The lawsuit accuses Wendy's of failing to use safe and proper food storage, preparation and handling practices, failing to adequately prepare the meal for human consumption, and failing to eliminate Campylobacter and other illness-producing bacteria, according to the court filing cited by the station. Court documents state the food was contaminated with Campylobacter and other illness-producing bacteria when it left Wendy's control.
A Beef Order, But a Poultry-Linked Pathogen
The case is medically notable because Campylobacter is a pathogen predominantly linked to raw or undercooked poultry, meaning Douglas's claim involving a beef cheeseburger hinges on proving cross-contamination inside the restaurant's kitchen, according to Yahoo News NZ. The outlet reported the federal civil lawsuit was officially filed August 20, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois under docket number 1:26-cv-10092, naming Wendy's Properties, LLC as the defendant.
Nationally, Campylobacter bacteria infect an estimated 1.5 million people in the United States each year, making campylobacteriosis one of the most common causes of bacterial diarrhea, per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data published by Virginia Tech Extension. CDC surveillance studies published in PubMed show that while adults 65 and older make up a smaller share of total Campylobacter cases, patients in that age group face significantly higher rates of hospitalization and severe complications than younger patients — clinical context that helps explain the scope of Douglas's illness and bills.
Why the Case Landed in Federal Court
Wendy's argued the lawsuit should be heard in federal court rather than in local proceedings where it was originally initiated, citing that the parties are from different states as grounds for federal jurisdiction. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1332, corporate defendants can remove state personal injury lawsuits to federal district court when the dispute involves citizens of different states and the amount in controversy exceeds the $75,000 statutory threshold. Douglas is seeking more than $75,000 in damages, meeting that jurisdictional bar.
Because DoorDash acted only as the delivery intermediary, the platform is generally shielded from food product liability claims — commercial liability insurance for third-party delivery services typically covers motor vehicle liability and courier injuries but explicitly excludes contamination claims, according to Latent Insurance. That leaves Wendy's as the sole defendant, and it means Douglas must show the food was already contaminated before it left the restaurant's kitchen.
Illinois Law Sets the Bar for Food Safety
Illinois law offers a statutory backbone for claims like Douglas's. Under the Illinois Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, food is legally classified as adulterated if it contains any poisonous or deleterious substance that may render it injurious to health, creating civil liability exposure for commercial food vendors, according to the Illinois General Assembly. Separately, the Illinois Food Handling Regulation Enforcement Act requires restaurant food handlers to receive certified training in time and temperature controls, sanitation, and methods to prevent cross-contamination — the standard of care at the heart of Douglas's negligence allegations.
This isn't the chain's first brush with foodborne illness litigation. In August 2022, Wendy's removed sandwich romaine lettuce across several states after a multistate E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to its restaurants infected 109 people and hospitalized 52 across six states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Public health filings also document earlier localized E. coli outbreaks tied to Wendy's franchise locations, including one in Marion County, Oregon in 2000 and another in Ogden, Utah in 2006, as reported by Yahoo News NZ.
NBC Chicago reported it reached out to Wendy's for comment on the lawsuit. Whether laboratory isolate testing or local health department inspection records will directly tie the pathogen strain to the Stony Island Avenue kitchen's inventory or practices remains an open question as the case proceeds in federal court.
