Clausen Miller Appellate Group Scores Major Victory
The Clausen Miller Appellate Group scored a major victory in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, which issued an opinion with nationwide implications for the Diacetyl Litigation Community, and all toxic tort lawyers as well. In Stults v. International Flavors & Fragrances et. al., appeal No. 14-3658, the Eighth Circuit upheld a hotly contested jury defense verdict that denied the breach of warranty claims of a Michigan microwave popcorn consumer. The consumer claimed that his debilitating lung disease was caused by inhalation of the chemical diacetyl during his daily consumption of bags of microwave popcorn over a 20 year period. The defense position was that the illness was auto-immune related.
The Plaintiff’s Bar had had great success in the prior decade, obtaining seven and eight figure verdicts on behalf of microwave popcorn plant workers who were exposed to diacetyl and allegedly suffered lung ailments as a result. The second wave of plaintiffs are consumers who claim illness due to continuous and repeated exposure to diacetyl, a microwave popcorn ingredient. The affirmance of this jury verdict is a first nationwide. Tom Ryerson, Don Sampen, Edward Kay, and Joseph Ferrini successfully defended the verdict, both post-trial and before the Court of Appeals.