Mobile, AL – A judge in Mobile has upheld a $192 million jury verdict for a chemical expert who claims his idea for recycling certain hazardous wastes was stolen by an international manufacturer.
Mobile County Circuit Judge Robert Smith last week upheld the verdict, which came in October against Ineos Americas LLC and Germany-based Ineos Phenol for $192 million in compensatory damages.
In a statement Wednesday, Ineos Phenol officials denied stealing the idea and vowed to appeal the verdict to the Alabama Supreme Court within 42 days.
The suit was filed in 2006 by retired Degussa president Sven Peter Mannsfeld.
He claims Ineos profited by patenting his idea for a process that recycles hazardous waste into building products in the manufacture of tires and other items.
The jury award was pegged to that estimated profit and savings on hazardous waste disposal.
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