The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has heard arguments over a $180 million jury verdict in a personal injury case, the largest punitive claim in Illinois history. The defendant companies urged the court to overturn a district court’s judgment or lower the damages award in the grain elevator explosion case.<\/p>\n
The case stems from an April 2010 incident in which three men were injured when a grain bin exploded at ConAgra Food Inc.’s grain processing facility in Chester, Illinois. The injured men, Robert Schmidt, John Jentz and Justin Becker, were hired to clean out the bin. The plaintiffs claimed that the container had not been cleaned in 17 years and had begun to smolder.<\/p>\n
Becker was an employee of West Side Salvage, a company that ConAgra hired to clean the bin. Schmidt and Jentz were employed by A & J Bin Cleaning, a company that was hired by West Side to help with (more…)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has heard arguments over a $180 million jury verdict in a personal injury case, the largest punitive claim in Illinois history. The defendant companies urged the court to overturn a district court’s judgment or…<\/span><\/p>\n