Fired Whistleblower's Successful Appeal May Broaden State Protection Statutes
'PEOPLE ARE THE SAME': Myron Mehlman plans to pursue a $30 million defamation suit against Mobil if his case is upheld on its next appeal. A New Jersey appellate court has upheld and doubled a $3.5 million ruling in favor of a Mobil Oil Corp. toxicologist fired after advising a Mobil subsidiary in Japan to stop selling gasoline with hazardous levels of benzene, a carcinogen. While the company appeals the decision to the state Supreme Court, observers are speculating that the case may help whi
 'PEOPLE ARE THE SAME': Myron Mehlman plans to pursue a $30 million defamation suit against Mobil if his case is upheld on its next appeal. |
Myron Mehlman was dismissed from his job at a Mobil laboratory in Hopewell, N.J., almost immediately upon returning from Japan in October 1989. He sued the company under New Jersey's Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA), and a state Superior Court jury awarded him nearly $3.5 million in compensatory damages and $3.5 million in punitive damages (F. Hoke, The...
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