Marler Clark has settled with Supervalu and American Foods Group on behalf of the parents of Sonja Pearson, a young girl who became seriously ill after eating E. coli-contaminated ground beef that was supplied by AFG to Supervalu's Cub Foods subsidiary.

More than 40 people in the Upper Midwest became ill during the E. coli outbreak in December 2000, including Pearson, who was then 2 years old and incurred medical bills for $ 220,000 during a month-long hospital stay for kidney failure caused by the contaminated meat.