Court Finds Exxon Ignored Asbestos Warnings, Imperiled Workers

Tag : asbestos
BATON ROUGE, La., Sept. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Although companyofficials were aware of the dangers of asbestos in their Louisianariverboats, chemical plants and oil refineries as early as 1937,Exxon Mobil Corporation (XON) failed to implement any type ofsafety measures to protect their workers, ruled the Louisiana FirstCourt of Appeal recently. The Court affirmed a trial court's 2006judgment awarding substantial damages to the family of a formerExxon employee who died of mesothelioma, an asbestos-relatedcancer, announced Baron & Budd, P.C.

"Exxon's own documents reveal that the company knew that the use ofasbestos insulation in the petroleum industry was hazardous toworkers like our client," said Renee Melancon, the Baron & Buddattorney who represented the family on appeal. "Exxon even outlineda strategy for minimizing asbestos exposure in its facilities in1937, but just never bothered to follow through on the plan toprotect its workers."

The plaintiff, Bruce Spillman of Baton Rouge, worked on Exxontowboats from 1945 to 1949 and was exposed to asbestos when hespent time in the boats' engine rooms. From 1949 until 1986, heworked as a helper, then a welder, in Exxon's Baton Rouge oilrefinery, where he continued to be exposed to pipes insulated withasbestos. Despite the 1949 warnings of its own industrial hygienistabout asbestos, Exxon neither alerted its workers to any danger norinstructed them to wear masks. Mr. Spillman was diagnosed in 2005with mesothelioma, a painful and extremely aggressive cancer thatcauses the lining around the lungs to thicken and harden. Mr.Spillman died later the same year.

Exxon attempted to claim immunity from the lawsuit based on workerscompensation statutes, however, the First Circuit reaffirmed itsearlier ruling that Louisiana's 1952 Workers' Compensation Act doesnot cover mesothelioma and so does not bar suits by mesotheliomavictims against their employers for claims that accrued prior to1975, when the law was amended to cover that disease. In addition,the court held that the plaintiff's evidence was more thansufficient to establish that Exxon knew of the need to protect itsworkers from exposure to asbestos.

At trial, the family was represented by Baron & Budd specialcounsel Cameron Waddell and attorney Jody Anderman, also of Baron& Budd, along with Rick Nemeroff of the Nemeroff Law Firm.

"We proved, first to the trial court and then to the Court ofAppeals, that Exxon was responsible for exposing its own employeesto dangerously high levels of asbestos without adequate -- or,indeed, any -- respiratory protection," said Mr. Waddell. "If Exxonhad spent a fraction of the resources attempting to protect thisman that it spent trying to evade responsibility in this lawsuit,then our client and his family never would have suffered thistragedy."

About Baron & Budd, P.C.

For more than 30 years, the law firm of Baron & Budd, P.C. haschampioned the rights of people and communities harmed by corporatemisconduct. With more than 50 attorneys and offices in California,Texas and Louisiana, Baron & Budd enjoys a national reputationas a leader of the plaintiffs' bar. The firm represents individualswith mesothelioma and other diseases caused by asbestos; injuriescaused by other toxic substances and unsafe pharmaceuticals; waterauthorities seeking clean-up costs for drinking watercontamination; government entities and whistleblowers fightingcorporate fraud through Qui Tam and False Claims Act cases;securities investors defrauded by corporate wrongdoing; andconsumers in class actions.

Contact: Christal Karnaze 703/615-5763 ChristalKarnaze@lmo.comSusan Jones Knape 214/523-6226 Sknape@baronbudd.com SOURCE Baron & Budd, P.C.




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