Chipotle customer illnesses prove lawsuit magnet

Chipotle Mexican Grill is facing another class action by a disgruntled shareholder over its alleged inability to keep its restaurants clean, a further hurdle for a company still trying to regain consumer and investor confidence after a food scare two years ago.

The latest complaint follows Tuesday’s revelation that one of the burrito chain’s Virginia stores had temporarily closed because of a suspected norovirus outbreak and Wednesday’s media reports about Dallas customers complaining of rodents dropping from the ceiling.

Chipotle in March defeated a similar lawsuit brought by investors over stock price drops after several food-borne illness outbreaks in 2015 were traced to its restaurants, with a judge concluding that the case was “long on text but it is short on adequatelypleaded claims.” But as recently as May, the company was hit with another in a series of product-injury suits filed by customers claiming they were sickened two years ago.

The return of negative headlines has tarred what was supposed to be a marketing coup for the company, which rolled out a new campaign on Wednesday featuring RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan to tout the quality of the chain’s ingredients. Instead, investors have focused on the mounting number of suspected norovirus cases.

In the case filed Thursday, shareholder Elizabeth Kelley said the Coloradobased company made misleading statements to bolster confidence that it had resolved the health and safety troubles from 2015, when it was forced to close all its U.S. stores after hundreds of consumers got sick.

Chipotle didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Chipotle’s shares have plunged 19 percent during the 17½-month period covered by the lawsuit.