Jurors: FEMA trailer didn’t expose family to fumes

NEW ORLEANS -- A federal jury yesterday rejected a New Orleans family's claims that the government-issued trailer in which they lived after Hurricane Katrina exposed them to dangerous fumes.

Five men and three women decided that a trailer made by Gulf Stream Coach Inc. and occupied by Alana Alexander and her son, Christopher Cooper, 12, was not "unreasonably dangerous" in its construction.

The jury also concluded that Fluor Enterprises Inc., which had a contract to install FEMA trailers, wasn't negligent. The federal government wasn't a defendant in this first of several trials designed to help the New Orleans court test the merits and possibly resolve hundreds of other claims over formaldehyde in FEMA trailers.

Alexander and Cooper lived in a FEMA trailer for 19 months. Alexander's lawyers claimed elevated levels of formaldehyde aggravated Cooper's asthma and increased his risk of cancer. Formaldehyde, a chemical commonly found in construction materials, can cause breathing problems.

Juror Roy Pierce, 43, of Boutte, said he was troubled by testimony about some of Gulf Stream's "in-house practices" but didn't think the evidence supported a verdict against the companies.

"You didn't have the smoking gun," he said.

Andrew Weinstock, a lawyer for Nappanee, Ind.-based Gulf Stream, told jurors that formaldehyde is found in safe levels in many products, including cosmetics, foods and shampoo.