CHICAGO – A jury in Illinois has ordered Chicago-based Conagra Brands to pay $7.1 million to a Pennsylvania lady who used to be badly injured in 2017 when a can of business logo cooking spray ignited in a kitchen at her administrative center and set her aflame.
The verdict, issued Monday in choose of Tammy Reese of Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, is the primary of numerous other cases from burn sufferers around the nation with identical tales bringing up injuries that happened with Conagra-made cooking spray manufacturers, together with its standard grocery retailer logo Pam.
Reese used to be operating at a social membership kitchen in May 2017 when “suddenly and without warning” a can of Swell cooking spray “exploded into a fireball, causing burns and injuries,” in step with a lawsuit filed on her behalf. She suffered deep second-degree burns on her head, face, fingers and palms, and scar tissue continues to constrict her motion six years later, in step with one in every of her attorneys, Craig Smith.
Chicago-based Conagra Brands should pay out $3.1 million in compensatory damages and $4 million in punitive damages to Reese, in step with the Cook County Circuit Court verdict. Conagra Brands is the mum or dad corporate of Pam and lots of different high-profile meals manufacturers together with Marie Callender’s, Reddi-wip, Swiss Miss, Hunt’s, Chef Boyardee and Slim Jim.
The corporate stated in an emailed remark that it disagreed with the jury’s verdict and that the “safety of our products and our consumers is always a top priority of Conagra.”
“We continue to stand by our cooking spray products, which are safe and effective when used correctly, as instructed. We are evaluating our legal options, including appeal,” the remark stated.
Smith stated there are greater than 50 pending circumstances towards Conagra from different burn sufferers around the nation, and that the corporate has refused to factor a product recall for the “defective” cans.
“This is really the beginning of a serious problem for Conagra,” Peter Flowers, some other lawyer for Reese, stated Tuesday.
The injuries concerned spray can fashions of more than a few manufacturers manufactured between 2011 and 2019 that used a venting gadget with a decrease threshold for warmth than earlier variations, Smith defined. When the can will get too sizzling, the vents at the backside open to liberate force, discharging its very flammable contents into the air, in step with the lawsuit.
Consumers can test if their cooking spray cans are vented by way of having a look at whether or not the ground of the can has 4 small U-shaped slits, Smith stated. In basic, better spray cans — 10 oz.. (0.3 liters) or extra — slightly than the commonly-sold 6 oz.. (0.18 liters) cans are affected, he stated.
The cooking spray that exploded close to Reese were saved on a shelf about 18 inches (46 centimeters) above the range, in step with Flowers.
“In a industrial kitchen, that’s a kind of standard position the place other people go away their cooking spray cans after they’re in fact the use of them. And the similar factor has came about all around the nation, no longer essentially on cabinets above stoves, however on cabinets close to stoves, on counter tops,” he said.
In response to similar lawsuits in 2019, Conagra said the vent system was used on a limited number of cans but was eliminated during a product redesign that year. The redesign was not related to the lawsuits and was part of an effort to standardize the company’s cans, Conagra said.
Conagra says Pam and other cooking sprays have clear warning labels on the front and back telling consumers the product is flammable and should not be left on or near a stove or heat source. Cooking spray shouldn’t be stored above 120 degrees or sprayed near an open flame, the company said.
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