$745 Million Verdict After Nitrous Oxide Distributor and Head Shop Conspire to Sell Inhalants, Killing a 25-Year-Old Radiologic Technologist

On October 18, 2020, Marissa Politte finished her shift as a radiologic technologist at Ballwin Total Access Urgent Care on Clarkson Road in St. Louis County and walked to her car. Trenton Geiger, then 20 years old, had been inhaling nitrous oxide from Whip-It! cartridges while driving. He lost consciousness and his SUV struck her. She was 25 years old.

Geiger had purchased the cartridges at Coughing Cardinal, a St. Louis County head shop in Des Peres. Evidence at trial showed the shop moved nitrous oxide cartridges by the tens of thousands, a volume the plaintiffs argued was impossible to explain as culinary whipped-cream use. Prosecutors later brought a criminal case against Geiger: he pleaded guilty to second-degree involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to two years in prison in March 2023.

The civil case targeted the supply chain. Whip-It! is manufactured and distributed by United Brands Products Design Development and Marketing, Inc., a California corporation that markets the product as a food-grade propellant for whipped cream dispensers. Attorneys for the Politte family argued that United Brands and Coughing Cardinal did not simply sell a legal product that was later misused. They argued the companies operated a deliberate distribution network, supplying retailers they knew were selling the cartridges to customers who intended to inhale them.

Johnny M. Simon of The Simon Law Firm, working alongside co-counsel from Niemeyer, Grebel and Kruse, presented that theory to the jury. After trial, the jury apportioned fault at 70 percent to United Brands, 20 percent to Coughing Cardinal, and 10 percent to Geiger. The damages award broke down as $20 million in compensatory damages against United Brands and $725 million in punitive damages split between the two companies, $700 million against United Brands and $25 million against Coughing Cardinal, for a combined total of $745 million.

The verdict, returned in September 2023, was one of the largest wrongful death awards in Missouri history. The case later resolved through a confidential post-verdict settlement, under which both United Brands and Coughing Cardinal waived their right to appeal.