Cooking spray burn victim awarded $7.1 million in damages after can 'exploded into a fireball'

Reese was working at a social club kitchen in May 2017 when “suddenly and without warning” a can of Swell cooking spray “exploded into a fireball, causing burns and injuries,” according to a lawsuit filed on her behalf. She suffered deep second-degree burns on her head, face, arms and hands, and scar tissue continues to constrict her movement six years later, according to one of her lawyers, Craig Smith.

I promise you that $7.1 million is not worth a lifetime of debilitating pain from horrific burns across your head, face, arms and hands. That woman would probably tell you off for even sarcastically suggesting this incident and the resulting verdict was some sort of wonderful stroke of luck.

“In a commercial kitchen, that’s a sort of normal place where people leave their cooking spray cans when they’re actually using them. And the same thing has happened all across the country, not necessarily on shelves above stoves, but on shelves near stoves, on countertops," he said.