The widow of 83-year old William Koch sued the New England Compounding Center in 2004 for two and a half million dollars. Koch contracted a different form of meningitis and died about a year-and-a-half after receiving a shot produced by the company.

The complaint in the lawsuit said the shot was the source of Koch's meningitis, but it did not explain how that determination was made.

The New England Compounding Center reached a settlement with Koch's widow in 2007 before the case went to trial.

The compounding pharmacy is at the center of the current fungal meningitis outbreak traced back to steroid shots the company produced.

Fifteen deaths have been blamed on the outbreak. Three clinics in New York, including one in Rochester, received the shots.