A 34-year-old Greeley man who ate at a McDonald’s in early October and got seriously ill has filed the first lawsuit in the U.S. related to the recent McDonald’s E. coli outbreak.

Eric Stelly is suing for “in excess of $50,000 for past and future economic damages,” according to the lawsuit.

One person in Mesa County, an older man with other medical conditions, has died of E. coli poisoning related to the outbreak, according to the Colorado Department of Health and Environment.

The Mesa County Coroner has not responded to a request for the identification, and official cause of death, of the victim.

Stelly, who survived but is still experiencing symptoms, bought the hamburger from a McDonald’s at 2912 West 10th Street in Greeley on Oct. 4, according to the complaint. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday.

His symptoms continued for days. By Oct. 8, he went to the emergency room at UCHealth in Greeley, his attorney said. Tests determined that Stelly was positive for E. coli O157:H7 by the health department.

“When you go to a restaurant you’re placing an enormous amount of trust that they have done everything they can to make the food you eat safe,” said Stelly’s attorney, Ron Simon. Stelly was given antibiotics and sent home, where he is still recovering, according to Simon.

As of Tuesday, 26 cases of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) have occurred in Colorado. Eighteen of those cases have come from Mesa County, with one person dying from the infection, according to a Wednesday news release from Mesa County Public Health (MCPH) — in coordination with the CDPHE and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

All cases in Colorado have been within nine counties: Arapahoe, Chaffee, El Paso, Gunnison, Larimer, Mesa, Routt, Teller and Weld.

Ron Simon Associates is based in Houston and the lawsuit was filed in Cook County, Illinois where McDonald’s Corporate headquarters is located.

The lawsuit claimed that McDonald’s had a duty to prepare and test its products and that the company was negligent in that regard.

In a statement, McDonald’s said investigators found the illness may be linked to “slivered onions used in the Quarter Pounder and sourced by a single supplier that serves three distribution centers.”

Those fresh-slivered onions are primarily used on Quarter Pounder hamburgers and not other menu items.

The CDC said that for every single case of E. coli poisoning, there are 29 others that never get reported.

“The most cases by far are coming from Colorado,” said Simon. “What it likely means is that a bigger portion of the ingredient was sold in Colorado.”

Denver Gazette reporter Sage Kelley contributed to this story.