NAACP members sickened by norovirus sue Bay Area hotel

A former Oakland mayor went into a coma, a woman with a rare brain disease couldn’t take her medicine, and almost 40 people were rushed to emergency rooms.

Dozens of people who were sickened by the salmon filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Hotel Sofitel, alleging that not only did the establishment negligently prepare the fish for the Oct. 25, 2014, gala banquet, but also did nothing to assist those who had food poisoning.

“It does leave you not only with the sense of a bad taste in your mouth, but also, I think, it leaves you with the idea that you’re not going to necessarily get equal treatment or an equal level of concern that one would hope that a hospitality institution would have when they have served tainted food,” said Elihu Harris, the former mayor of Oakland.

“There was this real sense that this was racially motivated or racial neglect — neglect in the sense that these were African American people — well-to-do, I might add — but they weren’t receiving the kind of treatment that you would expect an organization to render,” said civil rights attorney John Burris, who’s representing the group.

Though a sample of the salmon tested several days after the event by San Mateo County public health officials did not test positive for norovirus, many of those hospitalized were diagnosed with the highly contagious virus.

Hotel staff did not call emergency medical services or offer the food-poisoning victims water or blankets, according to the lawsuit, which references past food-safety problems at the facility.

In 2008, 62 people attending a Redwood City Chamber of Commerce banquet at Sofitel contracted norovirus, according to the lawsuit and news reports.