$7.5 Million Settlement for Man Diagnosed with Popcorn Lung

A $7.5 million settlement has been awarded to the estate of Ronald Kuiper, a 69-year old retired butter flavor mixer, who died of a heart and lung failure just prior to his being awarded the settlement in March, 2009.

Kuiper worked at the American Pop Corn Co., in the 1990s, mixing artificial flavoring for 'butter flavor' products. In 2006 he was diagnosed with a condition called 'popcorn lung' , after working at the plant for 26 years.

Kuiper alleged that the flavoring he worked with contained a chemical called diacetyl, which has been linked to the rare form of respiratory disease called bronchiolitis obliterans - or 'popcorn lung'.

The settlement is not unusually high for this type of case, some verdicts have returned settlements as high as $20 million. Currently, there are some 300 similar cases pending across the US.

APRIL-14-09: Man dies day before jury awards $7.5 million [DESMOINES REGISTER: MAN DIES BEFORE JURY AWARDS $7.5 MILLION]