Jury Awards $30.4 Mil For “Popcorn Lung”

Our Chicago Personal Injury Attorneys have helped injured workers recover hundreds of thousands of dollars for all kinds of injuries. We have represented injured workers from all over Chicago. Now the latest ailment to hit workers in Chicago – “popcorn lung”.

Jury awards Chicago-area factory worker millions in suit related to ‘popcorn lung’

By Brian Slodysko and Erika Slife, Chicago Tribune reporters

The $30.4 million verdict is thought to be largest in the country to an individual related to cases involving diacetyl, an ingredient in butter flavored microwave popcorn

A South Elgin factory worker suffering from a life-threatening disease known as “popcorn lung” is bracing for an appeal after a Cook County jury last month awarded him $30.4 million against a supplier of a chemical found in butter-flavored microwave popcorn.

The verdict Aug. 13 was thought to be the largest award in the country to an individual in a lawsuit involving diacetyl, according to the man’s attorney, Ken McClain. Attorneys for the supplier, BASF, are appealing.

Gerardo Solis, 45, has worked for various popcorn and popcorn-flavoring plants in the Chicago area since 1987. Over time, Solis, a father of three, developed bronchiolitis obliterans, a rare respiratory disease that has destroyed 75 percent of his lungs, leaving him with the minimum lung capacity a person needs to live. Fireworks displays or second-hand smoke can send Solis into brutal coughing fits, which can cause him to pass out.

Our injury attorneys wish Mr. Solis and his family all the best.