Juice Firm Honoring Pledge to Pay Boy’s Bills

Odwalla Inc.’s insurance company has agreed to pay the medical bills of a 3-year-old boy who suffered severe kidney damage after drinking unpasteurized apple juice.

The firm’s insurer will pay $50,000 to reimburse the insurer of Michael Beverly of Seattle.

Company Chairman Greg Steltenpohl had pledged to cover the medical costs of the boy and 65 others who contracted E. coli bacteria infections during an outbreak last year. A toddler in Colorado died.

William Marler, the Beverly family’s lawyer, had complained that Odwalla had not paid Michael’s medical bills as promised.

Five of nine lawsuits have been settled by Odwalla, but not the Beverly case. Marler said he had asked for $8 million, with Odwalla offering $200,000. Marler then threatened to amend his complaint to note that the company had not covered the boy’s medical bills.

Both sides confirmed that Odwalla would pay the costs.

Company spokesman Chris Gallager said the medical bills of hundreds of people sickened by bacterial infections have been paid. He said the delay in the Beverly case was due to Marler’s “incomplete or erroneous information” about the boy’s condition and treatment.

Michael was hospitalized for 15 days and underwent dialysis. Marler’s medical experts said the boy has a strong chance of developing diabetes and a 15 to 30 percent chance of developing renal disease that will require a transplant.