St. Louis Jury Awards $2 Million to Plant Workers Who Developed Popcorn Lung from Diacetyl

Ronald Hutchins and Lafayette Gills worked at a food-flavoring facility in the St. Louis area where they were regularly exposed to diacetyl, a synthetic butter flavoring compound. Repeated inhalation of diacetyl fumes can cause bronchiolitis obliterans, a severe and irreversible lung condition in which scar tissue forms inside the small airways. The disease is nicknamed 'popcorn lung' because its first documented clusters appeared among workers at microwave-popcorn factories, but exposure can occur anywhere the chemical compound is manufactured, mixed, or handled in concentrated form.

Elan Chemical Company Inc. supplied the diacetyl to Hutchins and Gills's employer. The central dispute at trial was whether Elan adequately warned downstream workers about the hazards of the compound and whether the company ensured that proper protective equipment was available to those who would come into contact with it. Defense attorneys for Elan argued that protective gear had been offered and that the company disclosed handling requirements when it delivered the substance.

TorHoerman Law attorneys Jake Plattenberger, Steve Davis, and Eric Cracken tried the case alongside St. Louis co-counsel Jack Garvey of Branstetter Stranch and Jennings. The plaintiffs presented testimony from pulmonologist Charles Pue and industrial hygienist Adam Finkel to establish both the medical diagnosis and the industrial hygiene failures that led to the exposures. After deliberation, the St. Louis City Circuit Court jury returned a verdict of $1 million for Hutchins and $1 million for Gills on March 3, 2023, with Judge Rex Burlison presiding.

The gross verdict totaled $2 million. Because settlements had been reached with other defendants earlier in the litigation, Missouri law required that those settlement credits be applied against the jury award. The net amounts entered as judgments were $545,897.91 for Hutchins and $722,168.85 for Gills.