NEW JERSEY — A New Jersey State case, Thomasenia L. Fowler v. Akzo Nobel Chemicals, Inc., et al., No. MID-L-4820-11AS (N.J. Super. Ct., Middlesex Cty.), which was previously covered by ACT, has ended in a plaintiff’s verdict against a raw fiber supplier. On January 22, a Middlesex County jury returned a $2.38 Million dollar verdict in favor of the plaintiff, Thomasina Fowler, individually and as administrator of the estate of Willis Edenfield, but declined to award any punitive damages during the trial’s second phase. The compensatory damages were comprised of $2.1 million for past pain and suffering, $150,000 for loss of consortium, $130,000 in special damages.
The claims in suit arose from the decedent’s employment at a Bloomfield, New Jersey rubber and adhesive production plant. The plaintiff’s alleged that Union Carbide Corporation supplied the plant with raw asbestos, which was ultimately measured and mixed by the decedent during the production process.
The plaintiff’s case was supported by the expert testimony of Dr. Jacqueline Moline, M.D., and the defense called Dr. James D. Crapo, M.D., Dr. Victor L. Roggli, M.D., Dr. William Dyson, Ph.D.