Missouri woman wins $20.6 million verdict in toxic chemical exposure case

A Joplin ball bearings manufacturer should pay $20.6 million to a 27-year-old Missouri woman, Jodelle L. Kirk, who has permanent disabilities after being exposed to a toxic chemical, a federal jury in Springfield has decided.

The company, FAG Bearings, was responsible for Kirk’s exposure to the chemical trichloroethene, argued her lead attorney, Kenneth B. McClain of the Independence firm of Humphrey, Farrington & McClain. The amount awarded breaks down to $13 million in punitive damages and $7.6 million in actual damages.

FAG Bearings said it will appeal, “as we do not believe the facts and evidence support Ms. Kirk’s claims.”

Kirk, of Silver Creek, Mo., was diagnosed in 2002 at the age of 14 with autoimmune hepatitis, a rare and life-threatening disease. She is likely to need a liver transplant and must use chemotherapy drugs, which will not allow her to get pregnant, her attorneys argued.

Testimony at the trial linked her autoimmune hepatitis to the chemical. Her mother allegedly was exposed to the chemical while pregnant with the plaintiff, who also came into contact with it through contaminated soil where she played as a child, McClain said.

The chemical is a solvent used to clean metal parts, and government investigations found that FAG Bearings dumped tons of the chemical around its property for more than a decade starting in 1971.

This story was originally published March 23, 2016 at 11:40 AM with the headline "Missouri woman wins $20.6 million verdict in toxic chemical exposure case."