Underwood v. Jensen Farms, No. 6:11-CV-348-JHP, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 181580 (E.D. Okla. Dec. 31, 2013)

(the plaintiff sued a cantaloupe grower, grocers, an auditing company, and others, seeking damages for injuries he suffered after eating a cantaloupe contaminated by listeria; before the listeria outbreak, the grower had contracted with the auditing company to provide auditing services related to its food safety practices; plaintiff alleged that the auditing company was negligent in issuing the grower a “superior” rating, thereby failing to prevent the alleged failures that led to the outbreak; in granting the auditing company’s motion to dismiss, the court ruled that the auditing company owed no duty to the plaintiff when it conducted its safety audit; plaintiff’s allegations were insufficient to establish that his injuries were the foreseeable result of a negligent audit; the connection between the audit and plaintiff’s illness one month later was too remote in time and circumstance; plaintiff was not a third-party beneficiary to the auditing contract because he did not establish that the performance of the contract was expressly for his benefit; plaintiff also failed to show a causal connection between the allegedly negligent audit and his injury).