Brian Mierendorf, a 37-year-old pipefitter journeyman and HVAC technician, was awarded nearly $77 million following a devastating refrigerant explosion at a Kroger in Bloomfield Township.
Attorney Jon Marko of Marko Law announced on Tuesday (June 17) that an Oakland County jury returned a record-breaking verdict of more than $77 million against the Kroger Company of Michigan on behalf of Brian and Heather Mierendorf.
Mierendorf suffered severe chemical burns and injection injuries to his hands after a faulty refrigerant exploded.
In an attempt to protect nearby customers, Brian attempted to stop the refrigerant leak but was unsuccessful.
His hands were injected with R22, a toxic refrigerant that the EPA had banned.
Kroger was accused at trial of failing to produce any maintenance, repair, or inspection records for the subject refrigeration system, despite a legal obligation to do so, and of providing only a partial incident report completed more than two years after the incident occurred.
Kroger was required to document all of these under federal law and local policies.
Reference: Oakland County jury awards nearly $77M to man who lost fingers in Kroger chemical explosion