ShareA man has been awarded $8million in damages after a casino bar in Nevada served him cleaning chemicals instead of beer, the horrific incident causing him severe injury and lifelong health issues...
38-year-old Lon Enwright was watching a football game at Barley’s Casino & Brewing Company, on East Sunset Road in Henderson, Nevada a week before Christmas 2018.
He ordered a sample of Honey Blonde Ale, but was unaware that it contained a “dangerous chemical cleaning solution” used to clean bar taps, tanks and lines.
His lawyers explained what happened next: “After drinking the sample, Dr. Enwright experienced a sudden and intense burning in his mouth, on his tongue, and down his esophagus into his stomach.”
The press release continued: “He soon began convulsing, hyperventilating, and violently vomiting before Henderson Fire Department arrived to the scene.”
Enwright, a special needs education teacher who used to work as a wine steward on the Strip, suffered horrific injuries, with the caustic chemicals – potassium hydroxide and nonylphenol polyethylene glycol ether – “adhering to and liquefying tissue”.
“After drinking the sample, Dr. Enwright experienced a sudden and intense burning in his mouth, on his tongue, and down his esophagus into his stomach. He soon began convulsing, hyperventilating, and violently vomiting before Henderson Fire Department arrived to the scene.”
The emergency services were reported as having only been able to give him water to ease the chemical reaction, and Enwright suffered permanent nerve and tissue damage to his mouth, tongue and gastrointestinal system.
Attorney Rahul Ravipudi told the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “As a result of defendant’s negligence, Dr. Enwright has and will continue to suffer and seek treatment for lifelong internal damage, a lifelong burning sensation in his tongue, loss of taste, ulcers in the esophagus, and permanent damage to bodily tissue.”
He added: “There’s no potential for improvement. “It will only get worse over time.”
Barley’s Casino & Brewing Company, operated by Town Center Amusements, themselves a subsidiary of parent company Station casinos, admitted liability but offered a paltry $300,000 in damages.
A jury, however, took just two hours of deliberation to award Dr. Enwright $3 million in past damages, and a further $5 million in future damages.
