Four more former customers of Hereford House in Leawood have filed lawsuits against the restaurant’s parent company as the troubled steakhouse group continues to grapple with the fallout from alleged food contamination by a former employee.

Caleb McDonald and Lexie Shrock, a married couple from Johnson County, James Wantland Jr. of Overland Park and Ariel Parnell of Kansas City, Missouri, all filed suit this week against Hereford House Restaurant Company of Kansas.

As of Friday, 24 lawsuits had been filed against the restaurant company in Johnson County court.

Jace Christian Hanson, a 21-year-old former employee of the Leawood location of Hereford House, faces 22 counts of criminal threat for allegedly contaminating restaurant food between April 1 and April 23. The former employee allegedly posted videos of a man urinating on restaurant food in the kitchen of Hereford House and rubbing it on his buttocks and genitals. FBI investigators were able to trace the videos to Hanson’s cellphone.

Hanson also faces one count of criminal damage to property and ten counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, all federal, after child pornography was found on his personal device.

Like the previous plaintiffs, McDonald, Shrock, Wantland and Parnell allege that they suffered a combination of nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and cramping, as well as emotional and psychological stress, after eating at the Leawood restaurant while Hanson was employed there.

Hanson was arrested on April 26. According to an affidavit filed in Johnson County District Court, Hanson has since admitted to contaminating the food and attributed his behavior to a dislike of his job.

The now two dozen lawsuits filed after Hanson’s alleged conduct came to light all allege that the restaurant was negligent toward customers and served them a defective product.

The Hereford House branch in Leawood, where the alleged contamination occurred, was closed on August 3 due to significant public protests. The restaurant group operates three branches in Independence, Shawnee and Zona Rosa.

Wantland and Parnell’s lawsuits were filed by Matthew Birch of Shamberg, Johnson and Bergman, a Kansas City personal injury law firm that has handled several similar lawsuits against Hereford House. McDonald’s lawsuit was filed by Jerry Wallentine of Martin & Wallentine, a personal injury law firm based in Olathe.

Hanson is being held on $500,000 bail and will next appear in court in September.