One Of Chipotle's E. Coli Victims Wants - Wait For It - Free Burritos

Chipotle burrito
(Image credit: Chipotle)

When something makes you double over in pain and sends you to the hospital, you probably want to stay away from it, right? Well, maybe not if that thing is Chipotle. One of the customers who got E. coli from the Mexican food chain last year asked for free Chipotle burritos as a part of her settlement.

The 19-year-old woman was one of the hundreds to be stricken with the harmful bacteria E. coli after eating at Chipotle last year, but NBC News reports that her hospital visit has not diminished her brand loyalty. The sick teenager worked with food-safety lawyer Bill Marler to negotiate the settlement to cover the $40,000 in medical bill she had racked up due to Chipotle. While we don't know how much money the woman got, we do know that Chipotle sent her "a couple dozen" coupons for free burritos at her request.

The burrito request came as a shock for Marler, who said it was the first time in his nearly 25-year career as a food-safety lawyer that he's had a client request food from the establishment that has infected them.

I've been doing food poisoning cases since 1993. I have never had a client ask for that.

Apparently the Chipotle love is hard to kill. According to Marler, who is representing a large number of the victims of Chipotle's E. coli outbreak, many of the afflicted customers he's spoken have said they've been back to Chipotle again following their illnesses. Here's hoping the restaurant threw in some free guac from them or something.

Naturally, Twitter had some fun reactions to the story...

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He gets it...

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Towards the end of 2015, Chipotle customers across multiple states reported sickness due to E. coli after dining at the Mexican cuisine fast casual restaurant. The FDA investigated multiple Chipotle restaurants, and as of February 2016, have declared that the outbreak has ended. The restaurant chain is still in the process of negotiating financial settlements with afflicted customers, which are remaining undisclosed.

After Chipotle was given the all clear, it actually had the same idea as the 19-year-old woman: free burritos. The chain began dispersing easily redeemable free burrito coupons online to come back from the media disaster, and most customers didn't think twice about getting some free grub.