Top court orders Oxy, Hanvit to compensate humidifier sterilizer victim

A protestor holds an Oxy Reckitt Benckiser humidifier disinfectant during a protest demanding Oxy be held responsible in a press conference on March 9, 2022. [NEWS1]

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court's ruling that ordered humidifier disinfectant manufacturers to pay compensation of 5 million won ($3,820) to a victim who used the company's product.

The victim, surnamed Kim, used a humidifier cleaning product made and sold by Oxy Reckitt Benckiser Korea from November 2007 to April 2011. He was diagnosed with interstitial lung disease in May 2013 and filed a damages suit against Oxy and its supplier, Hanvit Chemical, in February 2015.

A lower court dismissed Kim's case, but an appellate court ordered Oxy and Hanvit in September 2019 to pay compensation of 5 million won to the plaintiff, saying Kim suffered physical damage due to design and labeling defects in their products.

In its first verdict on the civil liability of humidifier disinfectant manufacturers and sellers, the top court confirmed the partial win by the plaintiff, saying there was no mistaken understanding of the law by the appellate court regarding the presumed causality in product liability.

The humidifier disinfectant scandal is one of the country's worst consumer goods disasters.

In 2011, consumers started to report deaths and illnesses allegedly tied to humidifier disinfectants, widely used in households in dry winters.

A government-led investigation confirmed the link the following year.

In criminal cases, court decisions have varied depending on the ingredients used in humidifier sanitizers.

In January 2018, the Supreme Court finalized a six-year prison sentence for Shin Hyun-woo, former chief of Oxy Reckitt Benckiser Korea, who was convicted of homicide through professional negligence and falsely advertising the company's disinfectant as safe.

By contrast, a court acquitted the former heads of SK Chemical and consumer goods company Aekyung Industrial in a similar humidifier sterilizer case in January 2021.

BY KIM JU-YEON, YONHAP [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]