Photo: Congerdesign / Pixabay
A customer who dined at a Cracker Barrel restaurant sustained serious injuries to his digestive tract. Which caused the chain to be ordered to pay $9 million to the affected party. Although the affected would receive a much smaller amount.
In 2021, William Cronnon was having lunch at a Cracker Barrel in Marion County, Tennessee, when he was served a cleaning chemical instead of water. Taking a sip of what was in the glass, Cronnon felt a burning sensation.
Ingestion of the cleaning liquid caused him serious injuries physical to Cronnon, burning his mouth and esophagus. The lawsuit says Cronnon is still ravaged by these injuries.
The chemical Cronnon drank was Eco-San, a liquid that the restaurant was using to clean the kitchen.
According to WTVC News Channel 9, the jury found that Cracker Barrel acted in a negligent manner, including “failure to adequately hire and train qualified and competent employees.”
Cronnon’s original lawsuit against the restaurant chain asked Cracker Barrel to pay him $150,000 in damages. But a jury decided that the company owed the victim much more.
According to Time Free Press, on January 6, members of the A jury found Cracker Barrel guilty of Cronnon’s injuries. Indicated $730,000 in economic damages, $3.6 million in non-economic damages and $5 million in punitive damages.
However, Cronnon will receive less than $9 million, because the Tennessee state law limits non-economic damages in a personal injury action at $1200,000. A Cracker Barrel spokesperson told the Time Free Press that Cronnon received a total of $6.5 million.
“What made this so egregious is that Cracker Barrel had this policy where they put chemicals in unmarked containers for years,” he said Cronnon’s attorney, Thomas Greer. “What I told the jury was that were playing roulette with the health and safety of everyone who went in there, and Mr. Cronnon paid the price “.
Greer noted that the Eco-San solution was left in a pitcher of water to soak the beverage dispensing machine parts overnight, but the pitcher was not thrown away the next morning as was standard practice and was used by a waiter to fill Cronnon’s water glass.
It may interest you:
–A human finger in the hamburger: a woman is shocked at a fast food restaurant
–Hepatitis A at Famous Anthony’s: Fourth person dies from outbreak
–English chef sentenced for serving undercooked meat that caused the death of a woman