$6.6 Million Awarded to Burbank Man in Suit Against Film Lab

Ross Gunnell suspected all along that the thick green fluid he used to mop the floor of a Culver City film lab was toxic. But the chemical wasn’t labeled and his boss assured him the cleaner was safe.

Gunnell, who said he suffered neurological damage due to toxic exposure, sued the film lab.

And on Wednesday, a Los Angeles jury awarded Gunnell $6.65 million after it found the lab had intentionally harmed him by removing labels on chemicals and lying about the dangers, according to lawyers for the plaintiff and defendant.

The lab, Metrocolor Laboratories Inc. of Culver City, is out of business, but Gunnell plans on collecting damages from Time Warner Entertainment Co. Time Warner acquired the lab’s parent company, Lorimar Telepictures, in 1989.

Gunnell sees his victory as one for the little guy.

“They wanted me to shut up,” said Gunnell, 36, of Burbank. “And I didn’t.”

Gunnell said he became sick after mopping the floors and ceilings of the film lab with an unmarked cleaning fluid. Gunnell testified seeing the lab foreman peel off warning labels. When he asked about the contents, Gunnell said, the foreman told him not to worry.

Five years later, Gunnell learned from co-workers that the cleaner was a potent industrial de-greaser that could be absorbed through the skin and cause brain damage. By that point, Gunnell, a former high school track star, said he was suffering intense headaches, dizziness and memory loss.

He filed suit against the lab in 1995. Gunnell’s case was pinned to a legal premise that the lab had intended to hurt him. Under employment law, all work-related injuries are handled through the workers’ compensation process, except in rare cases such as when an employer willfully causes harm. Defense attorney Russel Hiles said there was no evidence of intent to harm Gunnell.

“Even if the foreman did rip off the labels and tell him the cleaner was safe, that still doesn’t rise to the level of intentional harm,” Hiles said. “And though we couldn’t prove it, we dispute the claim that the foreman ripped off the labels.”

Hiles also argued that Absorb Cleaner, the butoxyethnol-based solvent Gunnell used, was no more dangerous than common household products such as Windex and Formula 409.

The first phase of the monthlong jury trial, held in front of Los Angeles Superior Judge Paul Boland, ended Friday, with the jury awarding Gunnell $1.65 million in compensatory damages for medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering. On Wednesday, the jury returned with another $5 million for Gunnell in punitive damages.

Lawyers for the defunct lab say they will appeal.

Gunnell’s attorney, Martina Silas of Encino, said the verdict should serve as a warning to Hollywood studios.

“The unskilled matter as much as the people in the executive suites,” she said. “In the studio industry where the talent gets $13 million for eight weeks’ work, it’s important to consider the rights of workers behind the scenes.”