Man with ‘popcorn lung’ wins lawsuit
DENVER— A U.S. federal court jury on Wednesday awarded a Colorado man $7.2 million in damages for developing a chronic condition known as popcorn lung from a chemical used in flavouring microwave popcorn.
Jurors agreed with the claims by Wayne Watson, 59, that the popcorn manufacturer and the supermarket chain that sold it were negligent by failing to warn on labels that the butter flavouring, diacetyl, was dangerous.
The condition is a form of obstructive lung disease that makes it difficult for air to flow out of the lungs and is irreversible, according to WebMD.
Watson, of suburban Denver, was the first consumer of microwave popcorn diagnosed with the disease, bronchiolitis obliterans, his lawyer Kenneth McClain said.
Watson was diagnosed in 2007 at Denver’s National Jewish Health, a respiratory health centre, after years of inhaling the smell of artificial butter on the popcorn he said he ate daily.
The verdict was the latest in a line of cases in the past 15 years, starting with workers in popcorn plants where diacetyl was an ingredient, that has linked the chemical to health problems.
Jurors found Gilster-Mary Lee Corp., the private-labelling manufacturer of the popcorn based in Chester, Ill., liable for 80 per cent of the $7,217,961damages and the King Soopers supermarket chain and its parent, Kroger Co., liable for 20 per cent.
A lawyer for the defendants had told jurors that Watson’s health problems were from his years of using dangerous chemicals as a carpet cleaner.