HEPATITIS OUTBREAK Health officials: Onions likely cause of illness

Chi-Chi's plans to set up a toll-free hot line for those infected.
BEAVER, Pa. (AP) -- Green onions were the likely source of a hepatitis A outbreak at a Mexican restaurant that has killed three people and sickened at least 575, but the origin of those onions and how they were tainted have yet to be determined, state health officials said today.
Shortly after the Pennsylvania outbreak was confirmed Nov. 3, the Food and Drug Administration issued a national advisory that purchased green onions should be cooked and not eaten raw, to ensure safety.
It is not known whether the green onions behind the Pennsylvania outbreak are linked to those already known to have caused smaller outbreaks of hepatitis A in Tennessee and Georgia.
Trying to free up funds
Meanwhile, Chi-Chi's, the Mexican restaurant chain embroiled in the outbreak, has asked a bankruptcy court for permission to pay a $500,000 insurance deductible to free up as much as $51 million in insurance to settle claims by sickened customers and employees.
The 16-page request was filed Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dover, Del., where the 100-restaurant chain filed for Chapter 11 protection Oct. 8.
Through Thursday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health had confirmed 540 cases of hepatitis A linked to a restaurant at the Beaver Valley Mall, about 45 miles southeast of Youngstown.
Three customers have died and at least 12 employees are among those infected at the restaurant, which voluntarily closed through at least Jan. 2.
Creditors didn't object
A hearing on the request could occur as early as today before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Charles Case, though Chi-Chi's creditors don't object to the motion because offering the payments and settling potential lawsuits will help the company's financial condition, said Chi-Chi's bankruptcy attorney, William Lobel, of Newport Beach, Calif.
"Everybody's in favor of it. Part of it is that people really got hurt and we really want to start doing the right thing," Lobel said Thursday.
Chi-Chi's, based in Louisville, Ky., has come under fire for not offering to pay medical expenses and lost wages to those infected.
Seattle-based attorney William Marler, who represented several plaintiffs in the multimillion-dollar Jack in the Box E. coli case in 1993, has already filed three lawsuits in the Chi-Chi's outbreak and says he represents 50 others.
Why efforts were delayed
Lobel said Chi-Chi's efforts to help those infected were hampered simply because the company needs the bankruptcy judge's permission to make any extraordinary expenditures.
Marler's lawsuits have been stayed because a bankrupt company can't be sued unless the bankruptcy judge allows it. He said he didn't know Chi-Chi's was in Chapter 11 when he filed the initial lawsuits, and others won't be filed unless the judge lifts that stay.
Chi-Chi's Chapter 11 filing last month wasn't related to the hepatitis A outbreak, which wasn't publicly confirmed by Pennsylvania Health Department officials until Nov. 3. Chi-Chi's listed assets of $50 million to $100 million and debts exceeding $100 million in asking for court protection while it reorganizes.
But the hepatitis outbreak has further hurt the cash-strapped chain's business, with bad publicity affecting sales at its other 99 restaurants in 17 states, stretching from Minnesota to the Mid-Atlantic region, the court document said.
The bankruptcy filing says Chi-Chi's will set up a toll-free hot line for those infected and hire a consulting company to manage and settle potential claims. The company hopes to pay "medical costs, lost wages, and other related reimbursements ... without any admission or determination of liability."