A professor is taking legal action against a New Jersey university after his priceless collection of 380-million-year-old fossils was mistakenly sent to a landfill in Nashville. This incident has wiped out nearly two decades of Becker’s hard work as a paleontologist at William Paterson University.
Martin Becker was in the process of sending about 200 of his ancient fossils to a colleague in Florida for a collaborative project. The university’s mailroom was responsible for shipping the items. However, due to unpaid fees with UPS, the shipment never made it to its destination. Instead, Becker’s fossils ended up discarded in a dump, erasing the result of “hundreds upon hundreds of hours” of meticulous collection from New Jersey’s High Mountain.
Becker’s lawsuit claims that his fossil collection was one of the most comprehensive of its kind in Northern New Jersey. He mentions that this assemblage was not only critical to his career but also pivotal for his reputation in the fields of paleontology and geology.
His troubles began on June 18, 2024, when he packed his fossils into 19 boxes. After handing them off to the mailroom supervisor, Raymond Boone, Becker was promised tracking and insurance details. Unfortunately, he never received this crucial information.
As time passed without any sign of his fossils, Becker made several attempts to track them down, receiving information only days later that they were still in New Jersey. Boone attributed the delay to UPS’s fraud department, but this was merely a cover for a more severe issue — the university’s UPS account had been canceled months earlier due to unpaid invoices. This lapse was reportedly known to Boone yet not communicated to Becker until later.
According to Becker, the negligence displayed by both Boone and the university is appalling. He argues that sending his fossils without resolving the account issues was a serious breach of care. Becker is not just seeking damages for the loss of his collection but also claiming medical costs due to the stress caused by this mishap.
In light of this situation, experts in legal affairs may note that negligence cases often hinge on whether a party owed a duty of care and if that duty was breached. Becker has a strong argument based on the trust he placed in the university’s mailroom, raising concerns about accountability in institutional handling of valuable artifacts.
This case highlights the importance of proper protocols for handling rare items, especially in education and research institutions. It serves as a reminder that negligence, even in minor administrative areas, can lead to catastrophic losses. Becker’s experience reflects a wider truth: the delicate balance between academia and the management of its resources, which, when mishandled, can result in the loss of invaluable knowledge and history.
William Paterson University and Boone have yet to comment on the lawsuit. As this case unfolds, many will be watching closely to see how institutions might change their practices to prevent such tragic mistakes in the future.
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