Colorado man Wayne Watson wins $7 million in "popcorn lung" lawsuit

Wayne Watson, 59, who said he developed serious lung problems after eating two bags of popcorn daily for 10 years.

/ CBS Denver

(CBS News) A verdict has been reached in the ongoing case of Colorado man Wayne Watson, who sued the manufacturer and retailers of microwave buttered popcorn that caused him to develop "popcorn lung" after eating two bags daily for 10 years.

Watch: Popcorn surprisingly nutritious: study
Diacetyl chemical in artificial butter popcorn linked to Alzheimer's plaque build-up

Jurors awarded Watson $7 million in damages; the verdict came after a day and half of deliberations in Denver Federal Court, reports CBS Denver. Watson, 59, was diagnosed with respiratory problems in 2007 after years of inhaling the smell of artificial butter.

The jury found the manufacturer of the popcorn, Gilster-Mary Lee Corp., 80 percent at fault, and the parent companies of the King Soopers' supermarket where he purchased the popcorn - Dillon Foods and Kroger - divided the other 20 percent. The supermarket chain said it would appeal.

Lawyers from the King Soopers' supermarket chain told CBS Denver, that Watson's attorneys "might have well have warned that there are aliens popping out of the bags because there's just as much support for that."

Gilster-Mary Lee said in a statement after the verdict, "We are certainly very disappointed by the decision of the jury in this case in light of the very clear evidence which was presented, including the millions of consumers who have safely used and enjoyed microwave popcorn since it was introduced. We are currently evaluating our next steps in this matter and will assert all rights available to us under the law."

Watson previously settled claims against the flavor developer FONA International Inc., formerly Flavors of North America Inc., the Associated Press reported.

"Popcorn lung" refers to a potentially fatal respiratory disease that mostly develops in workers at flavoring plants who inhale diacetyl, the chemical that provides the butter flavoring and smell. In most cases, a condition called constrictive bronchiolitis obliterans was found, in which the smallest airways of the lung become scarred and constricted, blocking off movement of air.

Symptoms include cough, wheezing, worsening shortness of breath on exertion - those similar to asthma, chronic bronchitis or pneumonia.

Watson had told the CBS Early Show in 2007 he first noticed lung problems during church choir practice when he couldn't sustain notes like he used to. His doctor, Dr. Cecile Rose, a lung specialist at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, was initially unsure what was causing his ailment but knew he had to be inhaling something. When she asked him if he had been around a lot of popcorn, "his jaw dropped and he asked me how I would possibly know that about him," Rose told the Early Show at the time.

Prior to the lawsuit, Rose wrote a letter to federal agencies warning that an unidentified person may have developed the first case of the disease outside of factory workers.

"We cannot be sure that this patient's exposure to butter-flavored microwave popcorn from daily heavy preparation has caused his lung disease," cautioned Rose in the 2007 letter. "However, we have no other plausible explanation."

Watson told CBS Denver that he believed the key to winning the case was Rose's testimony.

"I haven't eaten a bag of popcorn since 2007. I hardly eat popcorn any more. Occasionally we'll pop some on the stove the old fashioned way," said Watson.

In 2004, a jury awarded 32-year-old Eric Peoples, a worker at the Gilster-Mary Lee plant in Jasper, Mo., $20 million for lung damage he sustained during the manufacturing process of buttered popcorn. At the time, 29 other workers had cases pending.

A recent study suggested diacetyl was linked to plaque buildup that's indicative of Alzheimer's, but a cause-and-effect relationship between the chemical and disease was not found.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has more on lung disease linked to artificial flavorings.

[BMH1961]

I do agree that 7 million is a huge settlement, but it's not right that food in the grocery store can kill you because the ingredients are dangerous and were never meant to be eaten. I myself have the lung disease bagassosis because I ate moldy sugar cane fibers in 2010. I live in Wisconsin, how was I exposed repeatedly to moldy sugar cane fibers? It turns out that a bread called "Healthy Life" had put moldy sugar cane fibers in their bread. The FDA told me that when the bread is toasted this mold sends out spores. (you can't see it) After eating the toasted bread for breakfast (and breathing in the spores while eating) for almost a year I ended up in the ER and I tested positive for the same mold that was in this bread. "Healthy Life" did take the moldy sugar cane fibers out of their bread. Of course they are not responsible for my "allergy". Luckily for me, when I stopped eating the bread I got healthy but there are many people who die from this kind of stuff or like the guy in this story have permanent damage. Personally I would like to know before I eat something if it's dangerous. "Healthy Life" bread almost killed me. If I had known there was mold in it I would never have eaten it. So don't eat anything with SUGAR CANE FIBERS in it. It is most likely contaminated with the mold. I've never been allergic to anything in my life.

[cntrygirl3]

When I first started reading this I felt the same as most of these other folks. Like the nuttela woman. However what was in this stuff and the possibility of what it would do to you was never printed on the bag. The artificial butter smell and flavor is plain nasty and I have never eaten this or microwave popcorn in general. Have you ever looked at the list of ingredients in that stuff? If anyone had consumed the equivalent of real popcorn popped in oil and coated with butter they might have gained weight or maybe not. But they certainly would not have had a lung disease caused by the popcorn. I agree 7 million is a might excessive but what the FDA should be doing is forcing these companies to print a warning on every bag of popcorn that excessive sniffing could cause breathing problems, and certainly OSHA should be strongly regulating the factories where this stuff is made. However in no way is the grocery store responsible for any of this that part is a travesty.

[Davisrad]

I think they should treat this person like a smoker who gets lung cancer after years of inhaling cigarette smoke. Nobody told this idiot to eat this much popcorn and to keep inhaling the fumes. He did it to himself. It certainly isn't the grocery store's fault. Nobody told him to keep buying popcorn.

[dcamp2909]

I hope he gets paid off in POPCORN!!!

[endrepubs]

These are jurors who just couldn't get out of serving jury duty. They are probably eating 2-3 bags of popcorn a day and sympathize with the guy. Intelligent people seem to get out of jury duty.

[CarsonCitySteve]

Who are these people on the jury? This is insane, asinine, and just plain outrageous. Why, oh why can't I be on a jury like this. Just for the opportunity to laugh. You want what? For what? Baw, Haw, Haw!

[endrepubs]

He ate too much of the stuff. Too much of ANYTHING will kill you. Weren't we all taught that? This verdict is crazy.

[nancy_naive]

Stand Back! I'm going after Craftsman. I've been banging my head with a hammer for two hours a day for the last 10 years...

On the other hand, there is an additive that the company KNEW would cause the illness and they used it on the assumption that no one would ever receive that much exposure, they kind of deserve this decision for underestimating the stupidity of their customers.

[chevyhotrod]

" I've been banging my head with a hammer for two hours a day for the last 10 years..."

This explains allot of all your stupid post, now we know why.

[djseavy]

I have to sit back and wonder who was on the jury; where did they come from? The local mental hospital? This verdict makes me ill, because it underscores exactly what is wrong with our legal system. And the slime-ball attorney who represented him will get over 1/2, if the award isn't overturned on appeal. Only in America can someone eat like a pig for 10 years, then go back and sue the manufacturer. I forgot - pigs skip the butter on their corn.

[fromthefarnorth]

good plan for retirement
i m gonna start to eat crap food so in ten years i can sue for my dying body
is this a joke?
i guess not