CHI-CHI’S CLAIMS MEDIATED:

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. The settlements have been relatively small because none involved people who underwent liver transplants or died from the liver virus, said William Marler, whose Seattle-based firm Marler Clark specializes in tainted food litigation. Wrongful death claims and those filed by the handful of transplant patients are expected to consume the lion’s share of some $51 million in liability insurance Chi-Chi’s has. A second round of mediation is being. Four people died in the outbreak, which surfaced six months ago. Eventually, more than 660 people were sickened, nearly all of who ate or worked at a Beaver County Chi-Chi’s restaurant that served tainted green onions. A federal bankruptcy judge earlier this year approved the Chi-Chi’s mediation system. The system needed bankruptcy approval because the Louisville-based restaurant chain had filed for Chapter 11 protection in October.