GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — The Ottawa County health department says a Jenison Wendy’s at the center of a $20 million lawsuit closed multiple times in the summer of 2022 over numerous food safety violations.

A Hudsonville family is suing Meritage Hospitality Group, the owner of the franchise, saying 11-year-old Aspen Lamfers nearly died after eating at the restaurant that August.

During a routine check on the restaurant on Port Sheldon Street near Center Industrial Drive on July 27, Ottawa County food inspectors found what they called “gross and insanitary conditions,” according to public health records.

That included moldy and spoiled food, including day-old chili, food left on the ground overnight, mold and mildew throughout the restaurant and water pooled everywhere, according to the health records. The inspection records show the restaurant voluntarily closed that day following recommendations by the health department and the Georgetown Township Fire Department, which was called in because of leaking water over electrical areas.

A health department spokesperson told News 8 inspectors returned to the Wendy’s and found the restaurant had fixed its problems. The health department allowed the restaurant to reopen the following day, July 28.

News 8 asked a Ottawa County Department of Public Health spokesperson why it never forced the restaurant to close.

“The inspector will work with the establishment at the time violations are found to correct as many possible immediately… OCDPH’s primary goal is to protect the community from foodborne illness by ensuring restaurants understand and comply with food safety laws and best practices,” the spokesperson wrote in an email to News 8. “Once violations are corrected and there is no evidence of new violations, OCDPH does not force an extended closure of the establishment. Inspectors do keep in regular contact to make sure violations are not repeated or chronic.”

The spokesperson added the department generally orders a restaurant to temporarily shut down when it has chronic repeat violations and/or an imminent health hazard, including lack of water or electrical power, no hot water, a fire, a flood, a backup of sewage in the kitchen, severe pest infection and a food borne illness outbreak.

The girl’s attorney, Tom Worsfold, said Aspen was healthy, participated in several sports and thrived in the classroom. Then on Aug. 1, she a burger, chicken nuggets and fries at the Wendy’s on Port Sheldon.

“She became so sick and was almost on her deathbed,” Worsfold said. “It was so bad. Frankly, it’s almost a miracle she survived.”

Her family says she was hospitalized with an E. coli infection, which later turned into a kidney disease, hemolytic uremic syndrome. She was hospitalized for more than a month.

“The infection continued to progress and attacked her pancreas and her brain,” Worsfold said. “She had significant brain swelling suffering seizures while in the hospital. She had left-sided paralysis.”

The family says she’s still struggling with brain damage, diabetes and high blood pressure.

The Lamfers sued Meritage Hospitality Group in April of this year. The company owns more than 380 Wendy’s, Taco John’s, Morning Belle and Stan’s Tacos locations across 16 states. The family is asking for $20 million in damages, including past and future economic losses.

Meritage has not responded to News 8’s request for comment.

On Aug. 5, four days after Aspen ate at the Wendy’s, public health records show investigators found more violations, including food not cooled properly and dead pests around chili. The health department says Wendy’s voluntarily closed again Aug. 11. Food inspectors did three more inspections before it determined the restaurant fixed its problems and it reopened Aug. 17, the health department said.

The summer 2022 closures came in the middle of an E. coli outbreak that sickened 109 people across six states, including 43 people in Michigan. Earlier this year, several other West Michigan residents sued Meritage, saying they were sickened by contaminated lettuce at Wendy’s restaurants. Worsfold said Aspen didn’t eat any lettuce, but he believes she got sick through cross-contamination.

The health department said that at the time of its July 27 Wendy’s inspection, the multistate E. coli outbreak had not been identified.

“The outbreak was ultimately thought to be linked to a supply chain issue,” the spokesperson said.

On Aug. 8, 2022, the health department said it was notified of six E. coli infection cases in the county. Two days later, it learned a Wendy’s Jenison food service worker was a close contact of someone who was hospitalized with hemolytic uremic syndrome, the kidney disease that can emerge from E. coli.

The health department typically does restaurant inspections every six months for year-round establishments and schools. They are generally unannounced. Restaurants usually have between seven and 10 days to fix issues before a follow-up inspection.

Ottawa County’s website publicly lists food inspection reports for restaurants across the county. You can just type in the restaurant and its location. Several other West Michigan counties also publish their restaurant inspection reports through the software company Sword Solutions. That includes Allegan, Ionia, Kalamazoo, Muskegon and Van Buren counties.

Kent County no longer has public health inspections readily available online. A health department spokesperson said it used to post them online through Sword Solutions, but its partnership ended within the last couple of years. Kent County is working on building its own software and expects to have food service inspections available online by the end of the year. Until then, the public must submit Freedom of Information Act requests to get the information.