RIDGE RUNNER CHRONICLES: You Mean There’s a Problem with Dry Ice?

By Editor | April 7, 2026 |

I have been practicing law in Madison County, Illinois for more than 60 years. During that time, Madison County has had a nationwide reputation as a very litigious venue; one year in the 1980’s, for example, Madison County had the highest number of million dollar verdicts in the entire country. More recently, verdicts in Madison County have paled in comparison to those being rendered in New York and California but a month ago, there was a $241,000,000 wrongful death verdict in Madison County that really got my attention. That verdict included a punitive damage award of $191,000,000, with the jury deliberating only one hour. That means the jury was furious with the conduct of the defendant, who just happens to be Prairie Farms Dairy, a popular supplier of milk products here in the Mid-West. This really peaked my curiosity so here is what I know so far about the facts of this case.
In 2016, Eric Johnson was a contract delivery person hired by Prairie Farms to transport frozen strawberries in his car from St. Louis to Arkansas. The strawberries were packed in dry ice to keep them cool during the trip. Within two hours after the trip began, Johnson was found slumped over the steering wheel; he later died of either asphyxiation or carbon dioxide poisoning. The dry ice began subliming (melting) as Johnson was driving, meaning that it was changing from a frozen form directly into carbon dioxide gas. Carbon dioxide gas is an odorless gas heavier than oxygen that will quickly displace the oxygen in an enclosed space, such as a passenger car with the windows up. Breathing air that has more than 10% carbon dioxide can cause convulsions, coma and death within several minutes and that is apparently what eventually happened to Mr. Johnson. Prairie Farms allegedly failed to warn him that exposure to “melting” dry ice is extremely dangerous.
Initially, I wondered why Prairie Farms would be expected to know about the dangers of dry ice, but with some research, it became clear that fatalities relating to exposure to subliming dry ice occur often enough that Prairie Farms should have known about it. There have been horrible examples of fatalities relating to dry ice; the most notable involved a funeral home in Japan. In Japan, funeral homes typically retain the cadaver of the deceased in a casket for several days. In order to preserve the cadaver, funeral directors in Japan routinely place dry ice on top of the cadaver but hidden underneath traditional clothing. In 2023, during an open casket visitation, a visitor, who was paying his respects, leaned into the casket for a few private moments with the decedent and became exposed to carbon dioxide fumes resulting from the “melting” dry ice in the casket; this man immediately went into a coma and died. But that was not the only death in these circumstances; in fact, there were four deaths over a five year period in Japan due to exposure to carbon dioxide in funeral homes.
Death due to inhalation of carbon dioxide emanating from dry ice is not the only risk presented with dry ice. Dry ice retains a Fahrenheit temperature of -109.3. Contacting dry ice with your unprotected skin could potentially freeze your skin cells within seconds, cutting off blood flow to those cells and resulting in frost bite and eventual necrosis. Frankly, in view of these risks, it is surprising that dry ice is so readily available through big box stores here in the US.
Just a suggestion: you might want to rethink taking that dry ice on your camping trip this summer.
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■ Bill Hoagland has practiced law in Alton for more than 50 years, but he has spent more than 70 years hunting, fishing and generally being in the great outdoors. His wife, Annie, shares his love of the outdoor life. Much of their spare time is spent on their farm in Calhoun County. Bill can be reached at [email protected].