Cracker Barrel Diner Served Commercial Bleach Wins $9.4 Million Verdict

In April 2014, William Cronnon stopped for lunch at a Cracker Barrel in Marion County, Tennessee. When his glass ran low, a waitress refilled it with what he assumed was ice water. It was not. The glass held a mixture of water and Eco-San, a commercial grade bleach the restaurant used to clean parts of its soda machine. Staff had mixed the cleaning solution in unmarked pitchers and kept it near the drink station.

Cronnon drank before he understood what had happened. He felt an immediate burning in his mouth and esophagus and realized the liquid was some kind of chemical, not water. He went to the emergency room for treatment. The chemical injured the lining of his mouth and throat.

In the months that followed, Cronnon developed lasting gastrointestinal problems: cramping, bloating, diarrhea, and reflux pain after meals. A former textile factory worker, he said the symptoms kept him from going back to the kind of work he had done for years.

Represented by attorney Thomas Greer, Cronnon sued over how the restaurant handled the cleaning chemical. The case centered on a simple failure: a corrosive cleaner had been left in an unlabeled pitcher within reach of the area where servers filled drinks, with nothing to tell it apart from drinking water. The matter went to trial in Marion County.

In January 2022, the jury returned its verdict. It awarded about $4.4 million in compensatory damages and added $5 million in punitive damages, for a total of $9.4 million.

Greer told reporters that Tennessee's statutory caps on damages would sharply cut what his client could actually collect, leaving him with far less than the jury awarded. "This is an unfair law," he said. "He will not receive anything close to what he is entitled to." Cracker Barrel said it was disappointed by and strongly disagreed with the verdict, describing the episode as an unfortunate and isolated incident at one of its stores.