In April 2014, a man was served sanitizer in a water pitcher instead of actual water at a Cracker Barrel in Marion County, Tennessee, west of Chattanooga. Last week, a jury decided that the man is owed millions of dollars for the aftermath he had to endure.
William Cronnon, the customer who swallowed the sanitizer believing it was water, had to go to the emergency room where they declared he would have “permanent and serious internal physical injury,” according to Fox 4. He now deals with the aftermath of gastrointestinal problems. When he arrived at the hospital, he suffered from mouth and esophagus injuries, The Charlotte Observer reported. He also has an ongoing case of ingestion.
According to Bailey & Greer, PLLC attorney Thomas Greer and his post in a blog on January 10, the waitress believed it was water. However, it was a combination of water and Eco-San, a commercial-grade bleach. During the trial, witnesses to the incident took the stand and said the staff used unmarked water pitchers containing Eco-San to soak certain kitchen equipment. According to the datasheet attached to Eco-San, it is a category three health risk if ingested, classified as extreme danger.
$150,000 was in the original lawsuit requested from Cracker Barrel. Still, on January 19, the judge concluded the orders for the restaurant to pay for compensatory damages with $4.3 million and $5 million for punitive damages. Entrepreneur mentions that the jury decided the verdict in thirty minutes and added the five million dollars after an added deliberation in ten minutes.
According to Greer, under a law in Tennessee, Cracker Barrel will not have to pay the total amount due to the law placing “a cap on economic damages.” With the law intact, he will most likely receive around $750,000.
“This is an unfair law,” Greer told FOX-ABC’s Chattanooga station. “He will not receive anything close to what he is entitled to … The speed of the verdict, combined with an amount above what we asked, speaks to just how dangerous the Cracker Barrel policy was.”
Cracker Barrel claims that they have never implemented a policy about unmarked chemicals in any container. In a statement, they said, “While we have great respect for the legal process, we are obviously disappointed by and strongly disagree with the jury’s award in this case, which involved an unfortunate and isolated incident that occurred at one of our stores eight years ago. Although we are considering our options concerning this verdict, we are glad this matter is behind us so we can better focus on caring for our guests and employees around the country.”
