$3.5 Million Verdict for Chemical Plant Worker Burned by Formic Acid

Walter Felden worked as a kettle operator at an Ashland Chemical plant in the Cleveland area. One day on the job, while transporting two 55-gallon drums of formic acid on a forklift, he struck a concrete-filled steel post. One of the drums ruptured, releasing the highly corrosive acid. The exposure left Felden with third-degree burns across 23 percent of his body, including his face, eyes, arms, leg, and side, and caused partial loss of sight.

Felden's injuries went beyond the typical workers' compensation claim. Under Ohio law, a worker can step outside the workers' comp system and sue an employer directly when the employer knew that injury was substantially certain to result from its operations yet allowed the hazard to persist. That theory, the employer intentional tort, formed the core of the case Jeffrey H. Friedman of Friedman, Domiano and Smith built on Felden's behalf.

Trial began in June 1992 in Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas. The jury was asked to decide three specific questions: whether Ashland intended to injure Felden, whether the company knew a dangerous instrumentality existed within its operations, and whether Ashland knew injury was substantially certain to result from a kettle operator's normal duties at the plant. The jury answered in Felden's favor on each interrogatory and returned a verdict of $3.5 million.

Ashland moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, arguing the evidence did not support the intentional-tort finding. The trial court denied the motion. On appeal, the Eighth District Court of Appeals of Ohio affirmed the denial, the jury's $3.5 million verdict, and the trial court's award of prejudgment interest, subject to a standard offset for collateral benefits Felden had received. The intentional-tort finding and the jury's damages figure stood.

At the time of the verdict, the result was reported as the largest employer intentional-tort verdict in Ohio history.