BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A man who lost his hands when a fridge system exploded at a Kroger in Oakland County got a record judgement from a jury.
An Oakland County jury awarded nearly $77 million to Brian Mierendorf, a 37-year-old pipefitter and HVAC technician, who lost most of his hands in a refrigerant explosion at the Kroger Supermarket in Bloomfield Township in 2022.
“I mean, it’s bittersweet we’re happy with the verdict, but nothing’s gonna bring Brian’s hands back,” Jon Marko, Mierendorf’s attorney, said on Tuesday. “He had 25 surgeries. His hands were cut off, piece by piece, in front of his wife and his family by doctors trying to save his hands, and he’s never going to be the same. He’s never gonna go back to work.”
Mierendorf was seriously injured when a defective refrigeration system malfunctioned and released a toxic chemical called R-22.
The chemical was banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2020.
Mierendorf suffered severe chemical burns and injection injuries to both of his hands after the refrigerant exploded into his hands as he tried to protect nearby customers from the leak.
The company also failed to produce a complete incident report until 2024 -- more than two years after the explosion.
“Kroger had a ticking time bomb on its property,” Marko said. “They didn’t do their inspections, they did not make sure that it was safe, and when he opened up the refrigeration unit, it exploded on his hands.”
The $76.7 million judgment is among the largest in Michigan’s history and, according to Marko, the largest ever non-medical judgment.
Despite the massive monetary judgment, Marko says it still doesn’t square things for Mierendorf.
“He’s been trying to put his life back together for the last three years, and he’s going to be doing it for the next 45 years until he leaves this Earth,” Marko said. “There is nothing that can be done to bring back his hands, and this devastation has been caused to his family.”
Local 4 reached out to Kroger for comment but did not receive a response.
