We received a significant victory in a highly-contested food poisoning case. ​The plaintiff had eaten at a national Italian restaurant chain the night before scheduled back surgery. Post-surgery, the plaintiff became ill, and a blood test revealed a bacteria consistent with food poisoning, which had an incubation period of seven days. While the Italian restaurant chain was the original defendant, it was determined the plaintiff had purchased food at several other restaurants in the seven days prior to his surgery, and the original defendant filed a joinder complaint against those restaurants, one of which was our client. We decided to file an answer to the joinder complaint and included an allegation that the joinder complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted, and we also specifically asserted the statute of limitations as an affirmative defense. Ultimately, the judge granted our motion for judgment on the pleadings and dismissed the joinder complaint.