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A St. Louis jury heard opening statements Tuesday in a lawsuit where consultant Mark Avent and his wife, Lisa, are seeking $5 million in damages (Rebecca Rivas\/Missouri Independent).<\/p>\n
A California cannabis consultant is alleging he suffered permanent heart damage after a 2022 laboratory accident at a St. Louis-based marijuana cultivation and manufacturing facility.<\/span><\/p>\n A St. Louis jury heard opening statements Tuesday in a lawsuit where consultant Mark Avent and his wife, Lisa, are seeking $5 million in damages, arguing the incident triggered a medical emergency that ended his career in the cannabis industry.<\/span><\/p>\n The incident in question happened at the facility at 5401 Bulwer Ave., owned by Blue Arrow Missouri LLC, where marijuana is grown and manufactured into products.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In 2022, a lab technician accidentally mishandled the commercial vacuum used to clean the lab equipment. The vacuum blew fine marijuana dust particles into the air, and Avent suffered a severe asthma attack.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He was taken to the emergency room and lost consciousness in the ambulance.\u00a0 Doctors inserted a stent in his heart to save him, Meehan said, and he still hasn\u2019t fully recovered four years later.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis was an accident that shouldn\u2019t have happened,\u201d said William Meehan, Avent\u2019s attorney. \u201cIt was preventable, and they haven\u2019t taken responsibility for it. That\u2019s why we\u2019re in trial.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n On the stand Tuesday, John Wilbers, founder and chairman of Blue Arrow, testified that the company acknowledged the incident. He read portions of the report the company submitted to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which described how the technician didn\u2019t immediately shut down equipment when he saw the particles enter the air.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The report also states that the door should be closed during \u201call processing activities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Wilbers told The Independent Tuesday after his testimony that the company isn\u2019t trying to \u201csweep it under the rug.\u201d Wilbers is a personal injury attorney in St. Louis who started the company with his mother, Kathy, who died last week.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n His mother was the majority owner of the two cultivation, one manufacturing and one dispensary licenses the state awarded them in 2019, according records obtained from the Missouri Division of Cannabis Regulation.<\/span><\/p>\n Wilbers said he understands how companies \u201cplay games\u201d in personal injury lawsuits.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI deal with them on the other end,\u201d he said, \u201cand I don\u2019t live my life like that. So if somebody\u2019s injured, we\u2019re going to help them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The point of conflict, Wilbers said, is how much the company should pay. Wilbers said Avent had a previous \u201casthmatic condition.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s alleging that due to this inhalation, he had some asthmatic issue and medical conditions developed, and now he can no longer work,\u201d he said. \u201cBased upon my experience as a personal injury lawyer, that\u2019s not supported.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In the opening arguments, Meehan said Avent needs continued care to treat his heart damage and memory loss.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMark was a healthy person before this incident,\u201d Meehan said. \u201cHe exercised regularly and he had no physical problems. He had no prior heart disease, no prior heart condition.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On top of his ongoing medical bills, Meehan said Avent has lost at least $130,000 a year in income because he can no longer work in the marijuana industry.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHis personal life,\u201d he said, \u201chas been turned upside down.\u201d<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A St. Louis jury heard opening statements Tuesday in a lawsuit where consultant Mark Avent and his wife, Lisa, are seeking $5 million in damages (Rebecca Rivas\/Missouri Independent). A California cannabis consultant is alleging he suffered permanent heart damage after a 2022 laboratory accident at a St. Louis-based marijuana cultivation and manufacturing facility. A St….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n