ALA. JUDGE UPHOLDS $192M VERDICT IN PROPERTY SUIT
Jan 22, 2009
Associated Press
Ala. judge upholds $192M verdict in property suit
By GARRY MITCHELL
Global chemical giant Ineos Phenol, stung by a $192 million jury verdict,
has denied stealing a hazardous waste recycling idea from a Mobile chemist
and said it would appeal a judge's order upholding the award.
Mobile County Circuit Judge Robert Smith last week upheld the verdict,
which came in October against Ineos Americas LLC and Germany-based Ineos
Phenol. The $192 million was awarded for compensatory damages that extend
into the future.
The suit was filed in 2006 by retired Degussa Corp. president Sven Peter
Mannsfeld of Mobile. Ineos Americas LLC owns a chemical plant south of
Mobile in the Theodore Industrial Park, next to the plant that's now
called Evonik-Degussa.
In a statement released Wednesday through company attorney James C. Johnston
of Mobile, Ineos Phenol denied the lawsuit's accusation that Phenolchemie,
a firm it acquired in 2001, took Mannsfeld's idea and patented it.
Ineos Phenol has 42 days from the date of the Mobile court's order
to appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court. The judge's brief order, signed
Friday, rejected the company's bid for a new trial.
Ineos Phenol officials said the verdict - $25 million in "historic"
damages and $167 million in future damages through 2025 - should be set
aside by the higher court and they were disappointed with Smith's ruling.
Mannsfeld, 72, an immigrant from Germany who worked at Degussa for more
than 30 years, claims Ineos Phenol profited by patenting his idea for
a process that recycles phenol hazardous waste into building products
for making tires and other items.
According to his lawsuit, he discovered in 2004 that his idea was being
used under the patent in Germany, Belgium, the European Union and the
United States.
Mannsfeld could not be reached for comment Wednesday. But his attorney,
George W. "Skip" Finkbohner III of Mobile, said Ineos Phenol
had identified its own employees as the inventors, which was proven to
be false at the trial.
"On the patent, there were five listed inventors - four still living
- but none of them would say where the idea came from. They just admitted
it wasn't their idea," Finkbohner said.
Jurors heard from more than 20 witnesses during the two-week trial.
Like most states, Alabama has a Trade Secrets Act that sets out civil
remedies for the misappropriation of trade secrets. There is no governmental
enforcement under that law, but rather it is enforced by civil lawsuits
brought by individuals or businesses.
Another Mannsfeld attorney, Robert T. Cunningham, described the jury's
verdict as one of the top 10 verdicts awarded in the United States in
2008 involving individual plaintiffs.