E. Coli Suit Settled For $7.5 Million Lawyer Says Boise Woman Will Need Regular Kidney Transplants

Angela Noble, 20, has received one of the largest settlements ever in an Idaho personal injury lawsuit, $7.5 million, but her lawyer says it’s small consolation for the fact her life has essentially been wiped out.

Noble, of Boise, ate an undercooked hamburger at a Boise Jack in the Box restaurant in January of 1993, when she was a student at Capital High School, and quickly fell seriously ill.

Subsequent investigation determined it was from an E. coli bacterial infection, part of an outbreak that hit the San Diego-based restaurant chain from mishandled hamburger.

Attorney Walter Bithell, who handled Noble’s claim, said it was one of the largest ever awarded in Idaho but justified because the woman will need extensive medical care the rest of her life.

Already, $800,000 has been spent on medical care, including a kidney transplant, and Bithell said her medication costs $3,000 a month.

“She is weak and sick. She’s come to grips that she has to live with this problem,” he said.

He held a news conference Thursday to talk about the settlement, but Noble didn’t attend. He said she has good days and bad days. “Today’s not one of her good days.”

Bithell described Noble as “a very bright young lady” until she was stricken, a member of the school debate team and active in other school programs.

She was “at death’s door” a couple of days after eating the hamburger, was too ill to complete high school and had to undergo hours of kidney dialysis daily until she received a kidney transplant several months ago.

She must have a new kidney every seven to 10 years, and the chance of serious problems increases each time she goes through the surgery, he said.

She settled her lawsuit with the chain’s parent company, Foodmaker Inc. on Wednesday.

“It has always been Foodmaker’s intent to provide fair settlements to victims deserving compensation as a result of the outbreak,” said Bruce Clark, an lawyer for the company.

Foodmaker has settled more than 90 lawsuits related to the January 1993 outbreak that sickened several hundred people and killed three children from Washington state.