‘David versus Goliath mentality’: Man wins $70 million lawsuit against Tyson Farms
By Zoe Blair
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CULLMAN, Alabama (WVTM) — Mark Griffin won a $70 million verdict against Tyson Farms after wastewater from the company’s Hanceville plant polluted the Black Warrior River, leading to a flesh-eating bacterial infection that changed his life.
Tyson Farms is a part of the Tyson Foods family of businesses.
“I want the people who are responsible for the spill in the river to have to be held accountable for what they’ve done,” Griffin said.
The long recovery He contracted flesh-eating bacteria from the Black Warrior River six years ago after a pipe malfunction at Tyson Farms’ Hanceville plant released hundreds of thousands of gallons of wastewater into the river.
Griffin spent nearly 80 days in the hospital and says he is still dealing with the effects years later. He described ongoing weakness and said it took five or six years to recover.
“It got to be where I would fall a lot because of the weakness of laying up for 80 days, and it doesn’t seem like it would take five, six years to get over it, but it took five or six years to get over this stuff,” Griffin said.
Attorney Josh Vick highlighted Griffin’s resilience throughout the ordeal.
“Seven years later, he’s still dealing with the effects of this illness and will be for the rest of his life. The impact that it had on his life, his illness, but also sort of his resiliency and his refusal to quit was really impressive to us. That makes it easier for us to stick with something like this,” Vick said.
A hard-fought legal battle Griffin’s attorney, Dennis Goldasich, said the case was a difficult one against Tyson Farms, with large legal teams on both sides. Another attorney, Josh Vick, said Griffin’s resilience helped keep the case going.
“At any given point in time, there were teams on both of the defendants that looked like it was 14 to 15 people in the courtroom at any point in time,” Goldasich said. “Our team fought as hard as we could, and it certainly lent itself to a David versus Goliath mentality.”
The verdict The $70 million award is the largest verdict in Walker County history. Griffin said he hopes it helps prevent future pollution and holds those responsible accountable.
“I feel like it will help to stop this from happening anymore and polluting the river any more than it did. Other people as polluters maybe could look at that and say, ‘Maybe I better quit,’ because there are other people that pollute the river as well,” Griffin said.
What happens next Tyson Farms could still appeal the verdict, though no appeal had been filed at last check. Griffin’s lawsuit is one of several tied to the spill, and five other cases are still pending.
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