CHICAGO, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- A chemical company says it will appeal a $30.4 million award to an Illinois plant worker who suffered lung damage from an ingredient used in microwave popcorn.
Gerardo Solis, 45, says he contracted "popcorn lung" from breathing vapors from heated diacetyl, a chemical used in butter flavorings, during his years at various popcorn plants in the Chicago area.
A spokeswoman for the company, BASF, told the Chicago Tribune they were confident the jury verdict would be overturned on appeal if not by the trial judge.
The possible grounds for reversal were not revealed.
Solis' attorneys say he will eventually need a lung transplant because his ailment, formally known as bronchiolitis obliterans, destroyed 75 percent of his lungs.
A Cook County jury last month ruled in favor of Solis. BASF was the only one of 16 original defendants not to settle before trial, the Tribune said.
