Three men badly injured in a downstate grain elevator explosion two years ago were awarded $180 million.
The grain elevator in Chester, Ill., was owned by Omaha, Neb.-based ConAgra, one of the nation's biggest food companies.
After 10 hours of deliberations, jurors assessed a total of $100 million in punitive damages that will be split among victims John Jentz of St. Peter, Minn., Robert Schmidt of Hutchinson, Minn., and Justin Becker of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Compensatory damages include $41.5 million to Jentz, roughly $34 million to Becker and $2.9 million to Schmidt. Jentz was awarded $1 million in additional punitive damages by Westside Salvage Inc., ConAgra's co-defendant.
During the trial, their attorneys argued that not only had the bin not been properly cleaned in nearly two decades, but that for weeks the company had been warned that the bin could explode at any moment -- warnings it did not act upon or even share with the three victims and other workers.
ConAgra has vowed to appeal the outcome, insisting in a statement that the company does not "believe our actions caused the injuries."
One of those hurt was John Jentz. He says he was so badly hurt, his body no longer has the ability to warm or cool itself, which means he has to spend much of his time indoors.
"I don't sweat," he said, a reference to what his lawyers say is his body's inability to regulate its temperature after the explosion. "I have to stay in a controlled environment."
Robert Clifford, one of his lawyers, suggested that Jentz's words don't begin to speak to the limitations that his client must deal with the rest of his life. Doctors have told Jentz not to lift any more than 10 pounds -- a restriction that not only rules out any kind of manual labor but means he can't do something as simple as carry a bag of groceries or pull a turkey out of the oven.
Another lawyer, Kevin Durkin, added that vocational experts have suggested Jentz might be able to hold a desk job. "The only problem is, he's lost sensation in his hands so he can't work a keyboard," he said.
"He's trapped in his house," Clifford added.
