American restaurant chain Cracker Barrel has must pay a man $9.4 million in damages after he was served a glass filled with chemicals instead of water, CNN reports.
The incident occured in 2014, when William Cronnon was having lunch at a Marion County Cracker Barrel and drank from a cup filled with what he believed to be water. Cronnon “immediately [realized] that it was not ice water but was some chemical that caused a burning sensation in his mouth or esophagus,” court documents read. The chemical in question was later revealed to be Eco-San, a corrosive kitchen cleaning agent that allegedly caused permanent internal injury to Cronnon.
The man’s attorney, Thomas Greer, claimed that he is still suffering from symptoms in both his mouth and esophagus as a result of the accident, which has since brought on medical expenses.
“The jury returned a verdict for compensatory damages of $4.3 million in just 30 minutes – one of the fastest verdicts we have ever seen – and awarded punitive damages of $5 million after only 10 minutes of additional deliberation,” Greer told CNN.
However, according to a Tennessee law that places a cap on economic damages, Cronnon will only receive a fraction of what he’s owed. The original lawsuit asked the restaurant chain to pay $150,000 in damages, but the jury instead awarded him $3.6 million in non-economic damages and $730,000 in economic damages. Greer told local outlet WTVC that because of what he calls “an unfair law,” Cronnon will only walk away with $750,000.
As for Cracker Barrel, it told CNN that it was “disappointed” in the verdict.
“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,” the company’s wrote in a statement to the news outlet. “Although we are considering our options with respect to 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.”
Greer told WTVC that he expects Cracker Barrel will attempt to appeal the verdict.
“Instead of taking personal responsibility and personal accountability for their conduct, they abused the court system by denying that they did anything wrong,” he said. “They will likely appeal this verdict and do everything in their power to avoid paying this man a penny. And I will be prepared to fight for him.”
