Florida Supreme Court upholds Benlate award.(News)(E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co.'s Benlate DF fungicide)

Business Insurance, July, 2003 by Greenwald, Judy

Byline: JUDY GREENWALD TALLAHASSEE, Fla.-The Florida Supreme Court has reinstated a $4 million jury verdict against E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. in which the jury concluded that a pregnant woman's exposure to the company's Benlate DF fungicide caused her to give birth to a child with no eyes.

In 1996, the Dade County jury ordered Wilmington, Del.-based DuPont to pay Donna and Juan Castillo the award after Ms. Castillo claimed that, when she was seven weeks' pregnant in 1989, she was sprayed with a heavy dose of Benlate as she walked past a Florida tomato farm. She charged that her exposure to the fungicide caused microphthalmia, a rare birth defect involving severely underdeveloped eyes, in her unborn son, John. In its 3-2 decision, the Florida Supreme...