The manufacturer and smoke shop who sold cans of Whip-It! nitrous oxide to a young man who caused a deadly car accident have been ordered to pay $745 million to her family.
The lawsuit was filed by the family of Marissa Politte, a 25-year-old radiology tech who was killed within minutes of leaving her job when she was hit by an SUV and pinned to the building.
The driver of the SUV, 22-year-old Trenton Geiger, had been huffing cans of Whip-It! nitrous oxide before he passed out, swerved across oncoming traffic and a grassy area before he hit and killed Politte.
After a two-week trial, a jury in St. Louis, Missouri, awarded $745 million to her family, with most of the verdict against United Brands Corporation, the manufacturer of Whip-It! cans.
The smoke shop, Coughing Cardinal LLC, was hit with 20% of the verdict.
Lawyers claimed that both the smoke shop and Whip-It! manufacturer were well aware of the dangerous intoxicating effects of their product.
The lawsuit was filed in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County (Missouri) — Case Number 20SL-CC06071.
Source: Nitrous Distributor Hit With $700M Verdict Over Crash Death