As the Denver Post reports, Tuesday Marler Clark settled with ConAgra Foods the claims of six more victims - three of them in Colorado - who were sickened or died after eating E. coli-tainted beef last summer. That brings to 21 the number of cases ConAgra has agreed to pay without going to court. At least six more victims' claims are pending from the 18.6 million-pound meat recall in July.

The six claims settled Tuesday involved the most seriously affected by the meat, including a 68- year-old Ohio woman who died, the only death among 47 illnesses linked to the recall.

The Colorado cases settled Tuesday involve two girls, 2 and 17, and a 4-year-old boy. The other settlements involve a 2-year-old Nebraska boy and a 7-year-old boy from South Dakota.

The victim who died was Patricia Pfouts of Whitehall, Ohio, who worked as a day-care provider at a grocery store where some of the tainted meat was sold.