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Claims of Mercury-Tainted Vanilla Beans Prompt Client's Suit Against Day Pitney
The American Lawyer
June 04, 2009
Editor's note: The original version of this story neglected to note that IFF alleges the vanilla beans it purchased were tainted with mercury, and that the source of the details below is IFF's complaint against Day Pitney. The story has been modified since its original online publication.
A longtime client has sued Day Pitney and litigation partner Robert Rose in a case involving an international insurance company, a vanilla importer and thousands of pounds of vanilla beans allegedly tainted with mercury.
International Flavors & Fragrances, a New Jersey-based producer of tastes and smells used by household products and food and beverage makers, filed suit in New Jersey Superior Court last month against the firm and Rose claiming negligence and professional malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty and unjust enrichment.
The suit stems from work Day Pitney did for IFF after the company received shipments of Indonesian vanilla beans allegedly tainted with mercury. IFF purchased the bad beans from importer Dammann & Co. Inc. for $1.47 million in November 2003 and they were delivered in January 2004. In February of that year, IFF allegedly learned that Indonesian growers had been adding liquid mercury to vanilla beans to increase the beans' weight and drive up the price. IFF tested its beans and allegedly found that some shipments from Dammann contained liquid mercury. IFF quarantined the beans and products with the mercury and took steps to identify all the products that already had shipped to customers.
Shortly after the mercury problem was discovered, IFF hired Rose, then with Pitney Hardin -- which later merged with Day, Berry and Howard to become Day Pitney. In April 2004, IFF notified the U.S. Food & Drug Administration about the two contaminated lots of beans. All products made with the tainted beans could not be sold. The presence of mercury also forced IFF to shut down its vanilla flavor production and decontaminate its processing equipment in South Brunswick, N.J. The estimated bill for the cleanup and lost products totaled more than $5 million at the time. (IFF now puts the total damages at about $6 million.) In May 2004, IFF provided the importer Dammann with a claim letter detailing the damages. Dammann notified its insurance company, The Travelers Indemnity Co., of IFF's claims. Travelers ultimately denied coverage and filed suit in New Jersey federal court in November 2004. The insurer sought a declaratory judgment that IFF's damage claims were not covered by Travelers insurance policies. Day Pitney represented IFF in the Travelers suit.
IFF claims Rose and Day Pitney failed to assert the company's claims in response to the Travelers suit in a timely manner. According to the complaint, filed last month, Day Pitney and Rose did not determine the correct date for the expiration of the company's claims and billed the company $150,000 during 2008 when the firm's litigation efforts "were principally dedicated to litigating their failure to timely assert IFF's claims." (The company has paid Day Pitney more than $230,000 total in the Travelers suit.)
IFF is seeking compensatory damages, interest and attorney fees. Mara Levin and Matthew Hawkins of Herrick Feinstein filed the suit on IFF's behalf. IFF's lawyers declined to comment. A company spokeswoman did not respond to written questions by the time of this post. Day Pitney and Rose did not respond to request for comment. The 385-lawyer firm is based in Hartford, Conn.
This article first appeared on The Am Law Daily blog on AmericanLawyer.com.
