Posted on Thu, Apr. 29, 2004
JOE MANDAK
Associated Press
PITTSBURGH – Court-approved mediators have settled 14 of the first 15 claims they have heard stemming from a hepatitis A outbreak at a western Pennsylvania Mexican restaurant last fall.
Only two settlements must be approved by a bankruptcy judge, meaning they involve more than $35,000 each. The settlements were relatively small because none involved people who underwent liver transplants or died from the liver virus, a plaintiffs’ attorney said Thursday.
“The amount of the settlements are confidential, although the cases we resolved are certainly none of the long-term hospitalized cases or deaths or liver transplants,” said attorney William Marler, whose Seattle-based firm Marler Clark specializes in tainted food litigation.

Continue Reading Fourteen hepatitis claims settle in first mediation sessions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 20, 2003
The FDA Today Issued The Following Statement To Clarify Its Actions On Imported Mexican Green Onions (Scallions)
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been working closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), several states, and Mexican authorities to investigate possible links between recent outbreaks of hepatitis A and raw green onions (scallions).

Continue Reading FDA Statement on Imported Mexican Green Onions

Contact:
John Jackson
805-249-5344
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –GUADALUPE, CA.– November 22, 2003 — Apio Fresh, LLC has announced that it is asking its customers to withdraw from the marketplace all green onions sold by the company in light of concerns about a Hepatitis A outbreak in several eastern states which has been traced to green onions imported from Mexico.
“Consumer safety is our top concern,” said John Jackson, Chief Executive Officer of Apio Fresh, LLC. “We believe this is a prudent response, given the severity of the situation.”

Continue Reading Statement from Apio Fresh, LLC on Withdrawal of Green Onions from Marketplace

Source: FDA
November 15, 2003
Consumer Inquiries: 888-INFO-FDA
The Food and Drug Administration is advising the public that several recent hepatitis A outbreaks have been associated with eating raw or undercooked green onions (scallions). Hepatitis A is a liver disease that develops within 6 weeks of an exposure. Hepatitis A is usually mild and characterized by jaundice (yellow discoloration of the skin), fatigue, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, nausea, diarrhea, and fever. It can occasionally be severe, especially in people with liver disease.
Hepatitis A outbreaks associated with raw or undercooked green onions served in restaurants occurred in Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia in September. Another outbreak of hepatitis A among patrons of a single restaurant occurred in Pennsylvania during late October and early November, although the source of the outbreak has not yet been determined. FDA, CDC, and the State of Pennsylvania have an investigation underway to determine if a specific food is associated with the Pennsylvania outbreak, and if so, the source.

Continue Reading Consumers Advised That Recent Hepatitis A Outbreaks Have Been Associated With Green Onions

In order to participate in the Mediation Program, a claimant with a Hepatitis Claim (a “Hepatitis Claimant”) must opt-in to the Mediation Program on the Hepatitis A Proof of Claim Form. If the Hepatitis Claimant does not opt to participate in the Mediation Program, the Hepatitis Claimant will not be included in the below described process. Chi-Chi’s, Inc. (“Chi-Chi’s”), the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, and counsel to certain of the Hepatitis A Claimants recommend participation in the Mediation Program.

Continue Reading Chi-Chi’s Mediation Program

By Karen Roebuck
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, April 25, 2004
They were among the first diagnosed with hepatitis A in the Beaver County outbreak last November; they are among the last to recover.
As they watched hundreds more fall ill, the four Beaver County residents felt bonded to strangers, acquaintances and relatives by their shared plight.
Most of the 660 stricken about six months ago have long since recovered, but these four still suffer the disease’s lingering effects, frustrated, feeling alone and not knowing when their ordeals will end.

Continue Reading Hepatitis victims describe ordeals

By Karen Roebuck
Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, April 6, 2004
Hepatitis A is not yet a bad memory for many of the 660 people infected in the outbreak in Beaver County in November. It’s still their daily struggle.
Sapping their strength, draining their energy and, for a few, threatening their lives, the infection and its effects linger.
Frank Rossi Jr., of Hopewell, became the outbreak’s fourth fatality when he died of hepatitis A complications Thursday after suffering for more than five months with a host of medical problems. Rossi will be buried today on what would have been his 51st birthday.

Continue Reading Hepatitis A menace still looms months later

MEDIA ADVISORY
March 29, 2004
New Hepatitis Litigation Site Provides Useful Resource for Victims Making Claims against Chi-Chi’s
SEATTLE”Marler Clark launched www.hepatitislitigation.com last week in an effort to make the claims process easier for people who became ill with, or required immunization against, hepatitis A after eating at the Beaver Valley Mall Chi-Chi’s restaurant in late October and early November of last year. Proof of Claim forms are available through a link on the site’s home page, and can easily be downloaded, filled out, and printed from a computer user’s screen.

Continue Reading New Hepatitis Litigation Site Provides Useful Resource for Victims Making Claims against Chi-Chi’s