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but were used to propagate orchid plants for future sales or to
develop further unique orchids. Certain other orchid plants in
Mr. Henry's possession were immature and not ready for sale.
Sometime during 1990, Mr. Henry noticed diminishing flower
production in at least some of the orchid plants in his pos-
session. During 1991, Selby and certain others who had purchased
orchid plants from Mr. Henry that became defective returned those
plants to Mr. Henry and/or made complaints about them. Customers
of Fred Henry's Paradise of Orchids were not interested in
purchasing orchid plants that had Benlate problems. By October
1991, petitioner had sold plants which had been treated with
Benlate before they showed signs of deformity and which even-
tually developed deformity. All of the orchid plants in Mr.
Henry's possession became deformed, unmarketable, and useless as
unique plants as a result of his having applied Benlate to them,
and many of them died.
During 1991, du Pont realized that its fungicide Benlate may
be responsible for damaged plants, established a Benlate claims
process, and retained Crawford & Company (Crawford) as its
representative to work in the field to assist it in evaluating
alleged damage caused by Benlate and processing claims for such
damage. During that year, Mr. Henry began negotiating with du
Pont concerning the damage to the orchid plants of Fred Henry's
Paradise of Orchids and other orchid plants in his possession,
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