As the AP has reported, the bankrupt Chi-Chi’s Inc. and its subsidiaries have tentatively agreed to pay $800,000 to compensate nearly 9,500 people who got inoculated because of a hepatitis outbreak linked to a western Pennsylvania restaurant.
The Associated Press obtained a copy of the class action settlement agreement, which must still be filed in federal bankruptcy court in Delaware, from William Marler, a Seattle attorney who represents the plaintiffs’ class.
The victims will split $800,000, but how much each gets will be determined by how many of them eventually file claims with the court, Marler said. His firm will get a fee of $150,000, though Marler said that money would be donated to charity after his firm pays $50,000 in expenses spelled out in the deal.
“With class actions what’s bothered me in the past is that everybody (the plaintiffs) gets a coupon and the lawyers get a million dollars,” Marler said.
Four people died and more than 650 people were sickened by tainted green onions served at the restaurant at Beaver Valley Mall in western Pennsylvania.