A longtime employee of See's Candy Shops Inc. has dropped her lawsuit alleging that poor coronavirus protocols in the packaging warehouse in Carson caused her to contract the disease in 2020 and later infect her husband and one of her daughters, ultimately causing her spouse's death at age 69.
Maria Saucillo of Upland, the widow of the late Gilbert Saucillo Jr., brought the negligence/wrongful death suit in September 2021, seeking unspecified damages. Maria Saucillo's two daughters, Emma Saucillo and Patricia Flynn, also were plaintiffs.
On Tuesday, the plaintiffs' attorneys filed court papers with Compton Superior Court Judge Michael Shultz asking that their clients' case be dismissed "without prejudice," meaning it can be refiled later. The court papers do not state why the dismissal is being sought.
In March 2020, employees of the See's Candy Shops packaging warehouse on Alameda Street told management they were concerned about the close proximity of their working conditions, their lack of appropriate personal protective equipment and their fear of contracting the virus, the suit stated.
The employees were rebuffed by management and Maria Saucillo, like her colleagues, was forced to work near other employees without proper PPE, the suit stated.
"Multiple employees were coughing and sick, but were not sent home," the suit states.
Maria Saucillo subsequently contracted the coronavirus from another employee and in late March 2020, See's shut down the warehouse, according to the suit.
"At that point it was too late," the suit stated.
Maria, Gilbert and Emma Saucillo all tested positive for the coronavirus, the suit stated. Although Emma Saucillo struggled, she survived, but Gilbert Saucillo battled COVID-19 for about a month before dying on April 20, 2020, at San Antonio Regional Hospital in Upland, according to the suit.
See's "knew and should have known" that their alleged failure to take appropriate safety steps would increase the risk their employees would become infected and spread the virus by infecting one of more of their family members, the suit stated.
But in their court papers, defense attorneys denied any liability on the part of See's.
"While (See's) is sympathetic to the Saucillo family for its loss, plaintiffs' effort to hold defendant liable fails as a matter of law because ... defendant did not owe a duty of care to employees' family members to prevent their `take-home' infections."
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