Document pmbwLMezOG83aVzXbwQQNjM5w

i 1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE 2 COLUMBIA DIVISION 3 KATHERINE JOYCE BREWER, ) e t al . r ) 4) Plaintiffs, ) Nos. 1-88-008 and 5 ) 1-88-0014 through - v s- ) 1-88-0368 6 ) Judge Wiseman MONSANTO CORPORATION, ) 7 e t al. , ) ) 8 Defendants. ) 9 10 11 1 2 DEPOSITION OF J. COLEMAN WEBER 13 Taken on behalf of the Plaintiffs December 20, 1988 14 15 16 17 ORIGINAL 18 19 20 21 2 2 KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY Registered Professional Reporters 23 408 Olive Street, Suite 316 St. Louis, Missouri 63102 2 4 (314) 621-8883 25 KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056074 1 INDEX Direct examination by Mr. Cuker ................................................. Page 3 Weber Deposition Exhibit No. 1marked....................................... Page 15 Weber Deposition Exhibit No. 2marked....................................... Page 19 Weber Deposition Exhibit No. 3marked....................................... Page 21 Weber Deposition Exhibit No. 4marked....................................... Page 3 5 Parties stipulated to attachment of first and last pages only of lengthy exhibits. WATER PCB-SD0000056075 2 1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE 2 COLUMBIA DIVISION 3 KATHERINE JOYCE BREWER, ) et al. , ) 4) Plaintiffs, ) 5) -vs- ) 6) MONSANTO CORPORATION, ) 7 et al. , ) ) 8 Defendants. ) Nos. 1-88-008 and 1-88-0014 through 1-88-0368 Judge Wiseman FOR THE COURT 9 DEPOSITION OF J. COLEMAN WEBER produced, sworn and examined on the 20th day of December, 1988, 1 0 between the hours of eight o'clock in the forenoon and six o'clock in the afternoon of that day, at the 11 Karpowicz Reporting Company Conference Room, 314 North Broadway, 11th Floor, in the City of St. Louis, 1 2 State of Missouri, before Gwen A. Huffman, a Registered Professional Reporter, and Notary Public 1 3 within and for the County of St. Louis, State of Missouri, in a certain cause now pending in the 1 4 United States District Court, for the Middle District of Tennessee, Columbia Division, between Katherine 1 5 Joyce Brewer, et al., Plaintiffs, and Monsanto Corporation, et al., Defendants, taken on behalf of 16 the Plaintiffs. 1 7 APPEARANCES 18 SLAP, WILLIAMS & CUKER One Franklin Plaza, Suite 960 1 9 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19102-1227 BY: Mark R. Cuker, Esq., .... For the Plaintiffs. 20 SMITH, HELMS, MULLISS & MOORE 21 500 NCNB Building P.O. Box 21927 22 Greensboro, North Carolina 27420 BY: David M. Moore, II, Esq., . For the Defendant 23 Monsanto Corporation. 24 25 KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056076 3 1 KING & SPALDING 2500 Trust Company Tower 2 Atlanta, Georgia 30303 BY: Richard A. Schneider, Esq. 3 J. Kevin Buster, Esq., . . . For the Defendant D u r a ce11 4 International. 5 DEARBORN & EWING One Commerce Place, Suite 1200 6 Nashville, Tennessee 37239 BY: M. Clark Spoden, Esq., . . . For the Defendant 7 Emhart Industries, Inc. 8 9 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED by and 1 0 between Counsel for the Plaintiffs and Counsel for 11 the Defendants, that this deposition may be taken in 12 shorthand by GWEN A. HUFFMAN, a Registered 13 Professional Reporter and Notary Public, and 1 4 afterwards transcribed into typewriting, and that the 1 5 signature of the witness is not waived. 16 17 J. COLEMAN WEBER, 18 of lawful age, being produced, sworn and examined on 19 behalf of the Plaintiffs, deposes and says: 20 ' DIRECT EXAMINATION 21 BY MR. CUKER: 22 Q. Mr. Weber, my name is Mark Cuker. I'm 23 the attorney for a group of workers at the P. R. 2 4 Mallory Plant in Waynesboro, Tennessee. I'm going to 25 be asking you some questions about the work you've KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056077 4 1 done for Monsanto and its relationship with the P. R. 2 Mallory Company. 3 If at anytime you don't understand any 4 of my questions, will you let me know and I'll 5 rephrase the question? 6 A. Fine. 7 Q How old are you, sir? 8 A. Fif ty-seven. 9 Q Are you still employed by Monsanto? 10 A. No. 11 Q . Are you employed? 12 A. No. 13 Q . Okay. You're retired? 14 A. Yes. 1 5 Q Okay. When did you retire from 16 Monsa nto? 17 A. November of '85. 18 Q. Okay. And what was your position at 19 that time? 20 ' A. It was manager of -- in regulatory 21 affairs for the nutrition chemical division. 22 Q Okay. How long had you held that 23 position? 24 A. Oh, I'm going to guess about two years 2 5 because we always were reorganizing. KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056078 5 1 Q. Okay. When did you start working for 2 Monsanto? 3 A. In 1961. 4 Q . So you were about thirty years old at 5 the time? 6 A. Yes. 7 Q. What was your educational background 8 leading up to 1961? 9 A. I have a bachelor's degree and a 10 master's degree. 11 Q. In what? 12 A. Bachelor's in chemistry and master's in 1 3 business administration. 14 Q. MBA from whatschool? 15 A. St. Louis U. 16 Q. Okay. And where had you worked before 17 1 961? 1 8 A. I was -- before I came to work for 19 Monsanto, I was employed by Mai1inckrodt. 20 ' Q . Mall inckrodt? 21 A. Chemical Works. 22 Q. Okay. What kind of business do they 23 have? 24 A. I was involved in the nuclear fields. 25 Q. Okay. What was your first position with KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056079 6 1 Monsanto in 161? 2 A. I was employed by the inorganic chemical 3 division at that time in quality control work. 4 Q. In inorganic chemical division? 5 A. Right. 6 Q. What was the name of the division that 7 manufactured PCBs? 8 A. When I was associated, it was the 9 special chemical division. 10 Q. It was called the special chemical 11 division? 12 A. Right. 13 Q. And that was a division of the chemical 14 company, is that correct? 1 5 A. It was a division of the industrial 16 chemical company. 17 Q. The industrial chemical company. 18 A. Yes. 1 9 Q. All right. When were you associated 20 with the manufacture of PCBs? 21 A. I believe I came under that division 22 when it was formed in late 1975 and stayed with them 23 until we discontinued the production, which was 24 the -- July or August '77. 25 Q. Okay. KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056080 7 1 A. So approximately eighteen months, I 2 would guess. 3 Q. All right. What was your position? 4 A. I was manager of product acceptability. 5 Q. For that division? 6 A. For the special chemical division. 7 Q. Okay. How many divisions are there - 8 were there, approximately, within the industrial 9 chemical company? 10 A. I don't remember, but I want to guess 11 about a half a dozen. 12 Q. All right. And the special chemical 13 division also made chemicals other than PCBs? 14 A. Yes. 15 Q. All right. Between -- let's see, you 16 started out in the inorganic chemical division. What 1 7 did you do between that time and the time you began 18 in the special chemical division? 19 A. The same type of work leading through 20 various positions as we restructured and 21 reorganized. So I went from quality control work 22 into a product acceptability function which was 23 formed about 1970 or '72. And that encompassed 24 product quality tech -- technical service and product 25 safety . KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056081 8 1 Q. All right. In what divisions did you do 2 that before '75? Or with regard to what products? 3 A. Primarily the products associated with 4 the food ingredients, detergents, water treatment 5 chemicals. Well, I was involved in flavor essence, 6 the majority of the products that the industrial 7 chemical company made, heavy chemicals. 8 Q. Okay. 9 A. Except the fluids and the PCBs, which I 10 didn't come into until -11 Q . ' 75. 12 A. Late '75. 13 Q. After 1977, where did you move on to? 14 A. I stayed with the special chemical 1 5 division until we reorganized again and became -- and 16 stayed with the food chemical group which then became 1 7 the nutrition chemical division. 18 Q. Okay. Can you give me some idea during 19 the period '75 to '77 how much of the business and 20 personnel of the special chemical division was 21 involved with the PCBs? 22 A. No, because thespecial chemical 23 division was made up of four business groups that I 24 remember, flavor essence, we had good and fine, which 25 was good and drug chemicals, and then we had the KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056082 9 1 functional fluids group or division. So I -- I don't 2 recall that. 3 Q. PCBs was in the functional fluids group? 4 A. If that's the right name. 5 Q. Okay. Did you have any training in 6 industrial hygiene or toxicology? 7 A. No, I relied on the medical department 8 for that information. 9 Q. Okay. And during the period of time you 10 were involved with -- you were the manager of product 11 acceptability in the special chemical division, who 12 was the head of the medical department? 13 A. At that time, it was George Roush. 1 4 Q. Okay. Who in that department would you 1 5 communicate most often with? 16 A. To the toxicologist assigned for the 17 business group or the toxicologist involved in that 18 particular product line. 1 9 Q. Who was that? 20 A. It varied because I -- we covered a 21 multitude of products. 22 Q. You remember who it was for PCBs? 23 A. At that time, it was Paul Wright and 24 probably George Levinskas because he was head of the 25 toxicologists. KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056083 10 1 Q. Does Paul Wright work under 2 Mr. Levinskas? 3 A. I believe he did. 4 Q You know where Mr. Wright is today? 5 A. No, I don't. 6 Q As manager of product acceptability, who 7 did you report to? 8 A. For that division, I reported to the 9 general manager, which was Earle Harbison. 1 0 Q. Okay. Do you remember Mr. Bill 11 Papageorge? 1 2 A. Yes. 1 3 Q . Where did he fit in in the hierarchy? 14 A. He was another manager of the 1 5 acceptability. I took over the fluid groups from him 16 when he formed the division. 17 Q. Okay. What did he go on to do when you 18 became manager in the fluids group? 19 A. He was manager of product acceptability, 20 I believe, for the chemicals group. 21 Q . What chemicals are included in that 22 group? 23 A. Well, sulfuric acid, muriatic acid, 24 those type of products. 2 5 Q . Did Bill Papageorge continue to KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056084 ______________________________________________________ _____________________________ 11 1 participate in any communications about PCBs to 2 customers or to government agencies after you took 3 over that post in late 1975? 4 A. I can't answer that. I don't -- I 5 assume that he did continue on it. My job at that 6 time was just day-to-day contact with the customers, 7 and Bill had the -- had more expertise than I did. 8 Q. In PCBs - 9 A. In that -- yes, being new to the 10 division. 11 Q. Okay. Did you ever visit the Krummrich 12 pi ant ? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. How often during that eighteen month - 15 approximately eighteen month time span? 16 A. I visited it before that in relation to 17 the chemicals that were in my -- in the division that 18 I was responsible for. 19 Q. Okay. Did you visit theKrummrich plant 20 in relation to PCBs during the time you were manager 21 of product acceptability for the fluids? 22 A. I probably did because I visited most of 23 the manufacturing departments that -- the chemicals 24 that I had in that division. 25 Q. Okay. Did you ever have any contact KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056085 12 1 with Dr. 0 si and? 2 A. NO. 3 Q. Okay. Was Dr. Osland the plant 4 physician there during -- up through August '77? 5 A. I believe he was. 6 Q. Did you have any contactwith a 7 Dr. Spr a ul? 8 A. As -- yes, in our medical department. 9 Q. Okay. What kind of contact did you have 1 0 with him? 11 A. On routine problems that would be 12 associated with any -- with products that he was 1 3 responsible for. 14 Q. Did you ever have any contact with him 15 about PCBs? 16 A. I don't remember. I might have. 17 Q. Okay. Do you recall what that would 1 8 have been -- 19 A. No. 20 Q. -- the nature of it? When you were at 21 the Krummrich plant -- can you recall any of the 22 industrial hygiene measures that were used at that 23 plant? 24 A. That was not in my field. 25 Q. Okay. Is the answer no? KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056086 13 1 A. NO. 2 Q. Okay. Do you recall what the workers 3 wore? 4 A. No. 5 Q. You understand, Mr. Weber, I'm just 6 asking questions and you answer them as best you 7 can. This is not a memory test. 8 Do you remember having any direct 9 contacts with P. R. Mallory? 10 A. Yes, the meeting we had in St. Louis. 11 Q. Okay. You can remember that meeting? 12 A. I know we had a meeting. 13 Q. Do you remember what happened at that 14 meeting? 15 A. No, I don't. 16 Q. Okay. Is there --now, do you actually 17 have independent recollection of a meeting, 18 Mr. Weber, or is that just based on documents you may 1 9 have reviewed recently? 20 A. That was based on documents that I 21 reviewed because I've met with many customers over 22 the time. 23 Q. Okay. Did you --when did you review 24 those documents? 25 A. Lastweek. KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056087 14 1 Q. Okay. Did you meet with Mr. Moore? 2 A. Yes. 3 Q. Did you meet with Mr. Buster and 4 Mr. Schneider? 5 A. Yes. 6 Q. Okay. Whatwas your discussion with 7 them? 8 A. Basicallywhat we're coveringtoday. 9 Q. Okay. You did not meet with me, is that 1 0 true? 11 A. Yes. 1 2 Q. All right. Can you remember, do you 13 have any independent recollection of the people you 14 dealt with at Mallory? Any particular names, voices, 15 or faces that stick in your mind? 16 A. The only one that came to mind was 17 Mr. Dibble. 18 Q. Okay. What do you remember about 19 Mr. Dibble? 20 ' A. That he was the leader of a group that 21 represented Mallory. 22 Q. Okay. Is that all? 23 A. That's all. 24 Q. Okay . 2 5 MR. CUKER: Can I have this marked Weber KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056088 15 i i 1 Exhibit 1? 2 (Weber Deposition Exhibit No. 1 was 3 marked by the court reporter for identification.) 4 Q. (BY MR. CUKER) Mr. Weber, we've had 5 marked Weber Exhibit 1. 6 MR. SPODEN: Could we just see what it 7 is? 8 MR. CUKER: Sure. I'm just going to 9 read what the stamps are first. 10 Q. (BY MR. CUKER) A document stamped BRW 11 002822 dated February 9th, 1976. Mr. Weber, are you 12 a bcc on that letter? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. Okay. What was MCS 1475? 15 A. I don't remember. 16 Q. And I guess you wouldn't know what the 17 toxicity and handling precautions were for it, would 1 8 you? 1 9 A. No. 20 ' Q. You have no idea what it was at all? 21 A. It would be the fluid that we were 22 working on at that time, but we had many of them 23 under study. I don't remember what the composition 24 was . 2 5 Q. Okay. KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056089 16 1 MR. CUKER: I'll follow up this letter 2 by asking Monsanto, asking them to produce that 3 document referred to there. 4 MR. MOORE: What's that? 5 MR. CUKER: The information on the 6 toxicity and handling procedures for MCS 1475. 7 MR. MOORE: Okay. Mark,I think what we 8 need to do is when we get through with the 9 deposition, if you have some additional requests that 10 you want to have, send us a letter and we'll handle 11 that. 12 MR. CUKER: I'll do that. 13 MR. BUSTER: And cc the other 14 defendants, please. 15 MR. CUKER: Sure. 16 Q. (BY MR. CUKER) Do you know why you were 17 copied in on that letter? 18 A. Yes. 19 Q. Why isthat? 20 ` A. Because being at the time manager of 21 product acceptability, I would receive that type of 22 information going to the customer because it dealt 23 with the product and toxicity or data sheet on it. 24 Q. Did you ever visit the Waynesboro plant? 2 5 A. No. KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056090 17 1 Q. What was Monsanto's policy on the sale 2 of PC B s in late 1 97 5 and 1 97 6? 3 MR. BUSTER: Object to form. It's 4 ov e rly broad. 5 THE WITNESS: I can't answer that 6 because -- if you have a specific question, I'll try 7 to answer it. 8 Q. (BY MR. CUKER) Okay. Policies in terms 9 of who they would sell it to and for what purposes. 10 A. That policy was published, and I don't 11 recall the details of it. 12 Q. . Published in what kind of document? 13 A. I think it was in public record to 1 4 people that -- in the sales contracts and so forth. 1 5 Q. Okay. 16 A. It was primarily to, you know, the 17 people that were -- needed it for their use in 1 8 elect rical . 1 9 Q. Okay. Can you recall whether Monsanto 20 attempted to exercise any control over how PCBs were 21 being used by their customers? 22 MR. MOORE: Object to the form of the 23 question. 24 THE WITNESS: What do you mean by 25 control over customers? We would sell to the KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056091 18 1 electrical industry. 2 Q. (BY MR. CUKER) Right. Okay. By 3 control, what I mean, were there circumstances under 4 which Monsanto would indicate to customers that 5 unless the use of PCBs conform to certain standards, 6 the sales would not continue? 7 A. I can't answer that. I wasn't in the 8 marketing de pa r tme nt. 9 Q . That would be dealt with in marketing? 1 0 A. And the administration, right. That was 11 a policy decision of the corporation at that time. 1 2 Q. Okay. But as someone communicating with 13 the customers, did you ever do any -14 A. Me? 1 5 Q . Yeah, did you ever communicate to the 1 6 customers that unless PCBs were used in accordance 17 with certain standards, then sales might not be 18 continued to that particular customer? 1 9 A. I had nothing to do with the sales. I 2 0 communicated to the customer on the quality or the 21 handling characteristics of the product. 2 2 Q. Okay. 23 A. But I had nothing to do with the sales. 2 4 Q. Okay. And when you say the handling 25 characteristics, what do you mean by that? KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056092 19 1 A. We tried to give our customers, whoever 2 they were, whatever information we had on the 3 products that we were selling, along with the safe 4 handling of them. 5 Q. Okay. Was that done routinely or only 6 in response to specific requests? 7 A. It was done routine basis on all the 8 products. 9 MR. CUKER: Mark this Weber Exhibit 2. 10 (Weber Deposition Exhibit Mo. 2 was 11 marked by the court reporter for identification.) 1 2 Q. (BY MR. CUKER) Have you seen that 13 before, Mr. Weber? 14 A. Yes. 1 5 Q. Okay. Was that one of the types of 16 documents that would be given to customers? 17 A. Yes. 1 8 MR. MOORE: What frame in time, 1 9 Mr. Cuker? 20 ' Q. (BY MR. CUKER) Well, have you ever 21 found a date on that, Mr. Weber? 22 A. Yes, back here, this particular sheet 23 indicates it was published in November of '71. 24 Q. Okay. With regard to time frame, I'm 2 5 talking about -- I'm only really talking about the KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056093 20 1 time frame that you were manager of product 2 acceptability. Is that one of the types of brochures 3 that you would send to customers? 4 A. I'm not sure we would have sent this 5 one . 6 MR. BUSTER: I want to make an 7 obj ection. 8 THE WITNESS: Because it might have been 9 outdated. 1 0 MR. MOORE: Let him make his objection 11 before you go on. 1 2 MR. BUSTER: I want to make an 13 objection. Object to the question because I think 1 4 it's still unclear what's being asked. 1 5 THE WITNESS: I'm not sure this was sent 16 out because, you know, it might be out of date. 17 MR. CUKER: Okay. 1 8 MR. MOORE: And you're speaking now, to 19 clarify, Mr. Weber, with regard to the period of time 20 you had some PCB responsibility, is that right? 21 THE WITNESS: That's right. 22 Q. (BY MR. CUKER) Would the updated one 23 have been in the same format, Mr. Weber, in the same 24 type of cover, or would it be radically different in 25 format? KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056094 21 1 A. I don't know. I don't remember. But 2 these -- this was put out in 1971. 3 MR. CUKER: I'm going to ask that we 4 also mark as an exhibit a lengthy document, bates 5 number BRW 001297 through 001410. This will be Weber 6 Exhibit 3. 7 (Weber Deposition Exhibit No. 3 was 8 marked by the court reporter for identification.) 9 Q. (BY MR. CUKER) Mr. Weber, I'm showing 10 you Weber Exhibit 3, which is entitled The Proper 11 Handling Of Aroclors And Their Mixtures In The 12 Electrical Industry. And that is January of 1960. 13 Had you ever seen that before? 14 A. No, because it's '60. It's out of 1 5 date. It might have been -- it might have been an 16 old reference. 17 Q. Did you know Mr. Benignus, the author of 18 that document? 1 9 A. Just by name. 20 ' Q. You met him or everworked with him? 21 A. I never really worked withhim at that 22 time. 2 3 Q. Okay. 2 4 MR. CUKER: Off the record. 25 (A discussion was held off the record.) KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056095 itO 2 1 Q (BY MR. CUKER) Mr. Weber, let me show 2 you a document that's already been marked as Roush 3 Exhibit 2. 4 MR . MOORE: Is that two or three? 5 TH E WITNESS: Three. 6 MR . CUKER: I'm sorry, excuse me. It ' s 7 dated 2/29/76. 8 MR. MOORE: Looks like Roush 3 on the 9 exhibit marker. 1 0 MR. SCHNEIDER: Yeah, by my notes, it's 11 Exhibit 3. 1 2 Q. (BY MR. CUKER) Have you ever -- well, 13 your name appears on this document, does it not, 1 4 Mr. Weber? 1 5 A. Yes. 1 6 Q. And in what context does it appear? 17 A. As a ca r bonee. 1 8 Q. Okay. Here's astatement here in 1 9 parentheses which refers to the report of 20 Dr. Stopford which was attached. And it says -- I 21 believe this is on medical file. "Do not," underline 22 not, quote, "put on our file." 23 A. Okay. 2 4 Q. Okay. What's yourunderstanding of 25 where this document, where the report of Dr. Stopford KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056096 23 1 came from? 2 MR. MOORE: Well, let's establish he has 3 an understanding, to start with. 4 THE WITNESS: I don't remember this 5 letter on it. I probably got -- I may have gotten a 6 copy, but whether I got the attachment or not, I 7 couldn't remember. 8 Q. (BY MR. CUKER) Okay. You know whose 9 handwriting that is up in the upper left-hand corner 1 0 of Dr. Stopford's report? 11 A. No. It looks as bad as mine. 12 Q. What was Mr. Wood's position? 13 A. He was manager of the group handling the 1 4 fluids, the dialectric fluids, sales group. 1 5 Q. Okay. Where did he fit in with you on 16 the chain of command, were you on the same chain of 17 command or - 18 A. He reported through the marketing group 19 and I reported to the general manager, so we're 20 different structures. 21 Q. Okay. In Monsanto documents generally 22 in the company correspondence where you referred to 23 the medical department, which medical department 24 would that be? 2 5 A. We only had one. KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056097 24 1 Q. The corporate medical department? 2 A. Corporate. 3 Q. And Mr. Wood, okay, worked within -- was 4 it the fluids -- was it a division, a section? We 5 have division and subdivisions here. 6 A. Yes, we did. We had the special 7 chemical division. 8 Q. Right. 9 A. Okay. Headed up by a general manager. 10 Under that were business groups at that time. 11 Q. Right. 12 A. And Bob Potter, who was the business 13 director for this group of products, and I don't 1 4 remember what the business group's name was. We had 15 flavor essence, we had good and fine. So we had one, 16 two, three -- we had three business groups. 17 Q. And functional fluids was the group that 1 8 had PCBs in it? 19 A. Yes. 20 Q. And he was work --and Mr. Wood worked 21 in sales and functional fluids? 22 A. Right, he reported -- there was a 23 business director and under the business director was 24 functions of research, marketing, manufacturing, 25 accounting, and I think that was it. And that was KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056098 25 1 basically, you know -2 Q So there was a business director for the 3 functional fluids group? 4 A. For that group, that's right. 5 Q. And Wood would have been the head of 6 marketing working under him? 7 A. No, he would have reported into a 8 marketing director. 9 Q Okay. You remember who the director of 10 marketing was? 11 MR. MOORE: For functional fluids, 1 2 you're talking about? 1 3 THE WITNESS: For that particular area? 1 4 I believe i t was Tom Lafferty . I'm --1 you could 1 5 check. I mean we have -- you have to look at the 16 organization. 17 Q ( BY MR. CUKER) Sure. 1 8 A. But I believe it was Tom L a f f e r ty. 1 9 Q All right. And he reported to the same 20 fellow' you reported to, didn't he? 21 A. No, he reported to Bob and I reported to 2 2 Earle Harbison. 2 3 Q. Okay. And you reported to Earle 2 4 Harbison? 2 5 A. He s. KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056099 76 1 Q. Within function, did they break it down, 2 to dielectrics? 3 A. Dielectrics? 4 Q. Dielectrics and the other different 5 fluids? 6 A. I'm going to -- I don't remember, but I 7 believe we did. 8 Q. Okay. 9 A. Because we had -- we had many products 10 in that particular business. 11 Q. Did you ever work with Jack Garrett? 12 A. Yes. 13 Q. Okay. In what context? 14 A. He was head of the industrial hygiene 15 department and would work with him on industrial 16 hygiene questions that would have come up on products 17 that I was involved with. 18 Q. Did you ever work with him on industrial 19 hygiene questions involving PCBs? 20 A. Most probably. 21 Q. But you cannot, sitting here today, 22 specifically recall? 23 A. No. 24 Q. Did you ever work with Elmer Wheeler? 25 A. Yes. KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056100 ____________________________________________________________________________ _________ 21_ 1 Q. Okay. When did you work with Elmer 2 Wheeler? 3 A. In my involvement with the product lines 4 before I got into the special chemical until the time 5 he retired. 6 Q. Okay. Did you work with Elmer Wheeler 7 during the time that you were involved with PCBs? 8 A. I'm sure I did. 9 Q. Okay. And what was Elmer Wheeler's 10 involvement with PCBs at that time? 11 A. In industrial hygiene areas. 12 Q. Do you recall if he had a position 13 called director of environmental health? 1 4 A. I don't remember that title. 15 Q. Okay. Where did hestand in relation to 16 Jack Garrett on the hierarchy? 17 A. I'm not sure. I believe -- he reported 1 8 to Dr. Roush, and I believe Jack Garrett reported to 1 9 him, too. But I -- 20 ' Q. Did one report to the -- did Garrett 21 report to Wheeler or vice versa? 22 A. I don't remember. 23 Q. Let me show you an exhibit which has 24 already been marked Roush Exhibit 4. 25 A. All right. KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056101 28 1 Q. Did you get a chance to review that last 2 week? 3 A. Yes. 4 Q. All right. Let me just call your 5 attention to certain parts of the document. On the 6 first page under subsection d, you see where it says 7 "Bud would like to defuse the situation at Mallory 8 which has resulted from Stopford's recommended course 9 of action?" 10 A. Yes. 11 Q. Do you have any recollection about that 12 a t all ? 1 3 A. 1 4 Q. 15 ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT NO- for the court Or what situation had to be defused? MR. MOORE: He's already said no. 16 THE WITNESS: No. 17 Q. (BY MR. CUKER) Page two under e -- by 18 the way, this is a memo addressed to you, Mr. Weber. 19 You see that? 20 ' A. Yes. 21 Q. You know why it was addressed to you as 22 opposed to anyone else? 23 A. Yes. At that time, Alley was field 24 sales and I would have been a coordinator to the 25 meeting. KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056102 29 1 Q. Your job was to coordinate the meeting? 2 A. Yes. 3 Q. The agenda that's attached later on in 4 that document, is that something that you prepared? 5 A. No, that was prepared by -- looks like 6 it was prepared by marketing. 7 Q. By who? 8 A. I said it looks like it was prepared by 9 marketing, Jim Alley. 1 0 Q. There's a -- under the cc at the top of 11 that letter are R. E. Hatton. 1 2 A. Yes. 13 Q. What was his position? 1 4 A. According to the memo that you showed me 1 5 before, he was technical service manager. 16 Q. Which means what? 17 A. Roger had a Ph.D., Ibelieve, and was 1 8 more in the technology aspect of the product line, 19 and his job was to relate to the customers on helping 20 them on the technology aspect of the products. 21 Q. All right. Anyway, page two of that 22 memo under e, you see where it says "Criteria" - 23 A. Yes. 24 Q. -- "for successful visit: Remove some 25 of the emotion from the Mallory situation and move KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056103 3C 1 them toward a better understanding of PCBs and 2 Monsanto medical procedures for our personnel." 3 You have any understanding of what the 4 emotion was in the situation? 5 A. I don't remember. 6 Q. Okay. Turning to page three -- I think 7 you're a little past me here. Oh, I'm sorry, maybe 8 not. Under number one, under h - 9 A. Yes. 1 0 Q. -- it says "We should not exhibit any 11 prior knowledge of Dr. Stopford's recommendations." 1 2 Are you aware of any reason for not exhibiting a 13 prior knowledge of Dr. Stopford's recommendation? 1 4 A. I had not seen Dr.Stopford's 1 5 recommendations and I don't remember what they were. 1 6 But that's -- sounds -- it looks like it would be a 17 comment by field sales. 1 8 Q. Did you workwith Mr. Alley? 19 A. Yes. 20 Q. Okay. Are you aware of any reason he 21 may have had for not exhibiting a prior knowledge of 22 Dr. Stopford's recommendations? 23 A. I can't answer that. I don't recall. 24 Q. What type of a file -- when you got 25 memos like this, what type of a file did you put them KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056104 3J, 1 in? 2 A. Normally, when we got a customer letter 3 on a product, we filed it by product and customer. 4 First product and then we -- then by customer. 5 Q. Would that mean you'd file it -- you'd 6 make a copy and file it twice, put it in two files? 7 A. No, no, the file was broken down by 8 product because we had so many products, and then 9 customer. 1 0 Q. Customer within the product? 11 A. Within the product line. 1 2 Q. Okay. So here, you would look under 13 something like PCBs - Mallory? 1 4 A. Look under whatever the product was we 15 were marketing to those people, whichever one it was, 1 6 and then it would be under Mallory. 17 Q. Who succeeded you as manager of product 1 8 acceptability and functional -- excuse me, special 1 9 chemicals? 20 A. Well, we redid the division again and I 21 think Bill Papageorge came back into it. 22 Q . He did? 23 A. I think. I don't remember at the time 24 on it. 2 5 Q. Were there -- did Monsanto hold any KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056105 32 1 other meetings like this with other PCB customers 2 that you can recall? 3 A. Yes. 4 Q. Okay. During that year or earlier? 5 A. Well, they -- I can only speak for the 6 time that I was involved. 7 Q. Sure. 8 A. I want to say yes, we had meetings with 9 c u s t ome r s. 1 0 Q. Okay. When I say meetings like this, 11 I'm looking at the page of the agenda that lists the 1 2 topics to be discussed. 13 A. I can't -- I can't say that. 1 4 Q. Well, let me ask -- look at the list. 15 I'm going to ask you the question, okay? 16 A. Okay. 17 Q. All right. I'mtalking aboutmeetings 18 with customers where issues similar to this in 1 9 substance were discussed. That is, potential health 20 effects of PCBs on the workers and hygiene measures 21 which workers use or should use. 22 A. I don'tremember theparticulars of any 2 3 of the customer meetings, but generally, we -- when 2 4 we met with customers and I was involved, we were 25 talking about the quality and safety of products. KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056106 _____________________________________ _______________________________________________ 3 3__ 1 Q. Now, by safety, I just want to -- does 2 safety include I understand safety includes things 3 like exposure and that type of thing. Did that also 4 include its ability to cause illness over long term? 5 Did that fall under the nomenclature of safety or a 6 different title? 7 A. Well, I would think the safety of the 8 product had to do with the characteristics of it and 9 handling and use of it. 10 Q. Okay. So you would include safety to 11 include toxicity? 1 2 A. Yes. 13 Q. Did you have any awareness of the 14 hygiene measures which were used at the Krummrich 1 5 pi a n t ? 16 A. I was knowledgeable of some of the 17 measures that we used, but not specifically because 1 8 it wasn't in my -- 19 Q. Okay. Do you remember today what they 20 were? ' 21 A. No. 22 Q. Did you have knowledge of whether 23 physical exams were done at the Krummrich plant? 24 A. No, that was not my area. 25 Q. Do you recall whether Monsanto KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056107 34 1 specifically requested that Mallory not take its 2 lawyer to that meeting in March of '76? 3 A. No. 4 Q. You have any awareness of any reason why 5 Monsanto would have requested that? 6 A. I had nothing -- no, don't even remember 7 any discussion on it. 8 (A break was taken.) 9 Q. (BY MR. CUKER) Have you ever been 1 0 deposed in connection with PCB litigation? 11 A. yes. 1 2 Q. How many times? 1 3 A. Once. 1 4 Q. Which case was that? 1 5 A. That was Outboard Marine. 16 Q. Outboard Marine? 17 A. Uh-huh. 1 8 Q. Is that on that list? 19 MR. MOORE: I think so. 20 ' THE WITNESS: I'm sure it is. 21 Q. (By MR. CUKER) You remember where that 22 was? 23 A. Where I was deposed? 2 4 Q. yeah, was it in a cell block like this 2 5 or was it -- KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056108 35 1 A. No, it was a very comfortable office in 2 a Standard Oil building in Chicago. 3 MR. CUKER: Off the record. 4 (A discussion was held off the record.) 5 (Weber Deposition Exhibit No. 4 was 6 marked by the court reporter for identification.) 7 Q. (BY MR. CUKER) Mr. Weber, when you 8 visited Columbia, Tennessee, was that in connection 9 with any visit to Waynesboro? 1 0 A. Oh, no, it was in relation to our 11 phosphorus plant in Columbia. 1 2 Q. Oh, I've seen that plant. I've smelled 13 it, too. 1 4 A. Is that off the record? 1 5 Q. That's on the record. 1 6 All right. Mr. Weber, have you seen 17 this exhibit, Weber 4, before? 1 8 A. Yes, last week. 19 Q. Other than last week? 20 A. I don't remember it. 21 Q. All right. Let me just go down the list 22 of Monsanto people referred to here. There is 23 yourself. 24 A. Yes. 2 5 Q. Is there any reason why you're listed KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056109 35 1 first? 2 A. I have no idea. 3 Q. Okay. 4 MR. MOORE: Mark, let's don't ask him to 5 try to interpret what Mr. Alley may have been doing, 6 let's just ask him questions that he can answer as of 7 his own knowledge. 8 Q. (BY MR. CUKER) Now, David Wood is 9 listed here as manager of dielectrics. Does that 10 refresh your memory of what his title was at that 11 time? 12 A. That may not be right. He was a market 13 manager. And the best way to find out what the 1 4 titles are is to go back to the organizational charts 15 for that period of time. 16 Q. Would David Wood have been Jim Alley's f17 boss, though? 1 8 A. No. 1 9 Q . No? Who would have been? 20 ' A. Jim Alley would have reported into sales 21 manager in the district, whoever -- wherever that 22 was. Now, I don't remember - 23 Q In the geographic district? 24 A. Yes. 25 Q Dave Wood worked out of St. Louis? i ' KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056110 1 A. Yes 2 q. And the region that covered the 3 Tennessee area, was that not in St. Louis? Was that 4 elsewhere? 5 A. I don't remember. It depends on the 6 size of the sales group and the territories, but that 7 also could be on record in the organization. 8 Q. I think you already testified you had 9 very little contact with Dr. Osland, or none? 10 A. I did not know the gentleman. 11 Q. And no direct contact with Dr.Roush? 12 A. In relation to what? 1 3 Q. PCBs. 14 A. No, I talked to Dr. Roush. 1 5 Q. About PCB s? 16 A. Yes. 17 Q. Okay. When was that? 18 A. In this time frame I was involved with 1 9 them. 2 0 Q. You remember what the discussions were? 21 A. No. 22 Q. Okay. Any direct contact with Paul 23 Wright? 2 4 A. Yes. 25 Q. Okay. What were those discussions? KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056111 1 1 A. On the products that he was responsible 2 for as the toxicologist. 3 Q. All right. Any direct -- any 4 discussions with him about PCBs during this time 5 frame? 6 A. Yes. 7 Q. What were they? 8 A. I don't remember. 9 Q. Was Mr. Wright still a toxicologist 10 working in the area of PCBs as of August of '77? 11 A. Yes, he was a toxicologist employed by 12 Monsanto. 13 Q. Okay. You remember when he left the 14 c ompa ny? 15 A. No, I don't 16 MR. CUKER: That's all I have. 1 7 MR . MOORE: Anybody else have any 18 questions? 19 MR. BUSTER: No. 20 MR. SPODEN: No questions for Emhart 21 MR. BUSTER: None for Duracell. 22 MR. MOORE: Thank you, Mr. Weber. 23 24 25 KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056112 39 1 2 3 4 5 6 Subscribed and sworn to before me on (As^7 his day o--------, 19 8 9 jQgepuHiES. NIBLOCK IS NcttyPiMe-SttofMistoiiri 8 My commission expires.- - - 8tM*ri*Co*in!V 9 10 T AR Y PUBLIC u f 13 14 I5 16 117 118 Us KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056113 40 1 NOTARIAL CERTIFICATE 2 STATE OF MISSOURI 3 COUNTY OF ST. LOUIS ) ) ) 4 I, Gwen A. Huffman, a Registered Professional Reporter and Notary Public duly commissioned and 5 qualified in and for the County of St. Louis, State of Missouri, do hereby certify that, pursuant to 6 agreement between Counsel, came before me on the 20th day of December, 1988, at the Karpowicz Reporting 7 Company Conference Room, 314 North Broadway, 11th Floor, St. Louis, Missouri, J. COLEMAN WEBER, who was 8 by me first duly sworn on his oath to testify to the truth and nothing but the truth of his knowledge 9 touching and concerning the matters in controversy in this cause; that he was thereupon carefully examined 1 0 upon his oath, and his examination reduced to writing under my supervision; that the deposition is a true 11 record of the testimony given by the witness. 12 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto, S^t my hand and affixed my seal this/^2^? day o f ( . 13 1989. 1 4 My commission will expire January 27th, 1991. 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056114 41 1 KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY 408 Olive Street, Suite 316 2 St. Louis, MO 63102 3 January 11, 1989 4 Mr. J. Coleman Weber 5 518 Sunnyside Street St. Louis, MO 63119 6 In Re: Katherine Joyce Brewer, et al. vs 7 Monsanto Corporation, et al. 8 Dear Mr. Weber: 9 This letter, incorporated as the last page of your deposition taken on December 20, 1988, will serve as 10 notice to you that your testimony is now ready for your reading and signing of same. 11 I would appreciate your contacting my office by 12 calling 314/621-8883 so that arrangements can be made to accomplish this. 13 This letter is being mailed to you, as you know, by 14 Certified Mail with return receipt requested. If we have not heard from you within thirty days after 15 receiving your return receipt, this testimony will be filed with our indication of this offer of submission 16 to you and your refusal to sign. 17 I would appreciate hearing from you at your earliest convenience and appreciate your cooperation in this 18 rega rd. 19 Sincerely yours, 20 21 Gwen A. Huffman, RPR 22 CERTIFIED MAIL: P 714 737 466 23 MAILED ON: January 11, 1989 24 25 KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056115 42 1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE 2 COLUMBIA DIVISION 3 KATHERINE JOYCE BREWER, et al., 4 Plaintiffs, 5 -v s - 6 MONSANTO CORPORATION, 7 et al., ) Nos. 1-88-008 and 1-88-0014 through 1-88-0368 Judge Wiseman 8 Defendants. 9 AFFIDAVIT 10 I, GWEN A. HUFFMAN, a Registered 11 Professional Reporter and Notary Public within and 12 for the State of Missouri, do hereby certify that 13 under Certified Mail No. P 714 737 466 14 J. COLEMAN WEBER 1 5 was duly notified that his deposition taken in the 16 above matter had been transcribed and could be read 17 and signed; that signed receipt was returned showing 18 signature date of 19 That over thirty days have elapsed since the sending 20 of the aforementioned Certified Letter; that there 21 has been no response from this party or counsel; that 22 therefore, said deposition is herewith filed. 23 My Commission-expires January 27, 1991. 24 25 KARPOWICZ REPORTING COMPANY WATER PCB-SD0000056116 bees CCS Files D. Wood J. C. Weber Dielectrics Mallory February 9, 197 2 DEPOSITION 1f /^T / y/Zc/fcp / Mr. Ed Donohue P. R. Mallory Capacitor Co. Waynesboro, Tennessee 38415 Dear Mr. Donohues Recently you discussed with Jim Alley the environmental and health aspects of Monsanto fluid MCS 1475 and asked that ve send you some information. Enclosed is a oopy of information on the toxicity and handling precautions for MCS 1475. The biodegradation data that we have shows that MCS 1475 undergos microbial degradation to innocuous substances (C2 and HjO) at rates comparable to non-persistent chemical oompounds of known environmental histories. Please contact Jim Allay or me if you have further questions. Very truly yours. KEH/cc Enclosure cc: J. Alley PL, 8. Hatton Technical Service Manager Dielectric Fluids BRW 002822 WATER PCB-SD0000056117 technical BULLET THE AROCLORi POLYCHLORINATED POLYPHENYLS Dielectrics for Capacitors & Transformers TECHNICAL BULLETIN 0-FF/1R Monsanto oool 3V br* WATER PCB-SD0000056118 BRW 000752 Monsanto 800 N. UNOBERGH BLVD.. ST. LOUIS. MISSOURI 631SS WATER PCB-SD0000056119 i THE PROPER HANDLING E I OF AROCLORS I AND THEIR MIXTURES I I IN THE I ELECTRICAL INDUSTRY I I I I /-- Monsanto Chemical Co. Organic Div. Sales Dept. I Monsanto 800 N. Lindbergh Blvd. I V/d ,$ St. Louis 66, Mo. I I P. G. BENIGNUS R e vIe ed January 196 0 I I BRW 001297 WATER PCB-SD0000056120 i WATER PCB-SD0000056121 BRW 0 0 1 4 1 0 April 2, L 9 7 6 r" R. E. Hatton P. R. MALLORY COMPANY MEETING AT MONSANTO HEADQUARTERS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, 1976 D. Wood B2SD Present for Mallory: Bud Dibble, Mallory Capacitor Div., General Manager Ron Warwick, President, Mallory Capacitor Co. Robert Ellis, Mallory Capacitor Company, Director of . Personnel and Labor Halations Dr. Shep Wolsky, Directory, Mallory Physical Sciences Lab. Dr. George Wallis, Mallory Environmental Affairs Present for Monsanto: Cole Weber, Manager, Product Acceptability Dick Osland, M.D., Plant Physician, Krummrich George Roush, M.D., Director, Dept, of Medicine & Environmental Health Paul Wright, Toxicologist Jack Garrett, Industrial Hygiene Dave Wood, Manager, Dielectrics * Jim Alley, Industrial Sales Representative, Dieleccrics Subject areas discussed in the meeting were: PCBs, Monsanto medical procedure for PC3 plant personnel as well as personnel exposed to any chemical, practices and procedures ac our Krummrich Plant and various test methodologies. The Mallory people expressed satisfaction with the factual information supplied by Monsanto. They indicated they obtained a much clearer understanding of PC3s and our practices relative to these materials. , /deb Jim Alley BRW 000 5 1 WATER PCB-SD0000056122 `cKaApowicg '-^Sporting Company 1323 "ijffitjgSSS'*"*s""' 408 OIIVE SlRECr sr- LOUIS, mo 63102 AaOUj^a); vs yy\rtiS)a^ch; UPON READING THE DEPOSITION AND BEFORE SUBSCRIBING THERETO, THE DEPONENT CZ7~ &OLG/XAA) Cde-&r INDICATED THE FOLLOWING CHANGES SHOULD MADE. . WATER PCB-SD0000056123