04/16/2005
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Two people have filed lawsuits alleging that they were among the more than 600 people who became ill from hepatitis A-tainted green onions served at a Center Township restaurant in 2003.
Martha Funkhouser of Beaver Falls and Reginald Woods of Lake Milton, Ohio, sued bankrupt Louisville, Ky.-based restaurant chain Chi-Chi’s in Allegheny County Court, alleging that they suffered liver damage from hepatitis A after eating at the Beaver Valley Mall restaurant in October 2003.
According to the lawsuits, Funkhouser and Woods decided to sue after court-approved mediation hearings didn’t resolve their claims.
Chi-Chi’s attorney David Ernst said efforts to resolve the case were made, “but it’s their right to sue.”

Ernst said Chi-Chi’s settled more than 550 other claims stemming from the outbreak, and only one federal lawsuit is still pending.
The restaurant chain sold its 76 remaining restaurants to Outback Steakhouse Inc. of Tampa, Fla., in September for $42.5 million.