380-million-year-old fossils dumped in landfill after New Jersey school did not pay UPS invoice, lawsuit claims
A professor filed a lawsuit in opposition to a New Jersey college claiming the college’s negligence led to 380-million-year-old fossils ending up in a Nashville landfill final 12 months.
Martin Becker, professor of surroundings science and paleontologist at William Paterson College, had deliberate to collaborate with a colleague on a complete monograph that includes his fossil assortment, in accordance with the civil swimsuit filed final week in Superior Courtroom in Passaic County.
Becker spent “tons of upon tons of of hours” accumulating the Devonian age marine invertebrate fossils from the Excessive Mountain space of Wayne, New Jersey, the swimsuit stated.
Becker wanted to ship the priceless assortment to his colleague in Florida to maneuver ahead with the mission, the lawsuit stated.
On June 18, 2024, Becker packaged about 200 fossils into 19 separate bins, which was about 80% of his assortment. Every bundle weighed between 20 to 60 kilos, the swimsuit stated. The fossils had been dropped at the WPU mailroom that very same day and given to mailroom supervisor Raymond Boone, who can also be named as a defendant within the case.
The packages had been picked up by United Parcel Service (UPS) on June 18. Becker was advised by Boone that he would obtain monitoring and insurance coverage info, however Becker claims he by no means acquired it, in accordance with the lawsuit.
Within the following weeks, the swimsuit stated Becker’s colleague in Florida knowledgeable him that the fossils had by no means arrived.
Becker stated he acquired monitoring info on August 20 after making two telephone calls to the mailroom to talk with Boone, the lawsuit stated. Monitoring info indicated that the packages had been in Parsippany, New Jersey, awaiting supply.
Becker would repeatedly contact Boone over the course of a month concerning the packages, the swimsuit stated, and Boone assured him on three separate events that he was “engaged on the difficulty.”
On Sept. 20, Boone suggested Becker that the fossil packages had been presumably being held on the UPS fraud division, in accordance with the lawsuit. Becker contacted UPS immediately on Sept. 30 and was knowledgeable that his packages had been intercepted as a result of WPU did not pay excellent invoices. Consequently, the college’s account had been canceled.
“Our consumer discovered that the packages had been dumped at an unidentified landfill someplace in or round Nashville, Tennessee,” the swimsuit states.
WPU’s account with UPS was canceled on April 24. The swimsuit claims Boone had been conscious of this since July 8 and alleges a number of different packages from different people had additionally been confiscated for a similar cause.
Becker is in search of unspecified damages for the irreplaceable assortment, plus medical bills for the emotional misery the ordeal has induced him, the swimsuit stated.
Boone declined to remark to NBC Information. Becker and William Paterson College didn’t instantly reply to an NBC Information request for remark.
