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Environmental Concerns - May 2, 2013 14:24 - 0 Comments

Jury Awards $236 Million Against Exxon Mobil In New Hampshire

A jury has awarded the State of New Hampshire $236 million in damages against Exxon Mobil Corp. for groundwater contamination. While this was by far the largest verdict in the state’s history, it represents only about two days’ worth of profit for the energy company, according to an industry analyst. According to Fadel Gheit, managing director of oil and gas research and a senior analyst at Oppenheimer & Co., the verdict won’t put a dent in Exxon Mobil’s bottom line. He pointed out that “Exxon will probably make close to a $40 billion profit this year,” adding, “that’s two days’ work.”

The Jurors awarded the state the entire $236 million it was seeking from Exxon Mobil to monitor and remediate groundwater contaminated by MTBE, a chemical added to gasoline to reduce smog, but found to travel farther and faster in groundwater than gasoline without the additive. Experts testified that a teaspoon can cause widespread contamination. This verdict is more than twice the $105 million jurors awarded the New York City Water District in 2009 in its case against Exxon Mobil over MTBE contamination. That case is on appeal.

Jurors found that Exxon Mobil was negligent in adding MTBE to its gasoline and that MTBE was a defective product. They also found Exxon Mobil liable for failing to warn distributors and consumers about its contaminating characteristics. The jury found damages in the amount of $816 million, but that award was reduced to 28.9 percent of the total, reflecting Exxon’s market share of gasoline sold in the state between 1988 and 2005. Lawyers for Exxon Mobil argued the company used MTBE to meet federal Clean Air Act mandates to reduce air pollution and that the company should not be held liable for sites contaminated by other retail businesses.

Exxon Mobil was the sole remaining defendant of the 26 the state sued in 2003. Citgo was a co-defendant when the trial began in January, but it began settlement negotiations with the state and withdrew from the trial. Citgo ultimately settled for $16 million, bringing the total the State of New Hampshire has collected in MTBE settlement money to $136 million.

Sher Leff, the California law firm that successfully handled the New York City case, was hired by New Hampshire Attorney General Michael Delaney to try his state’s case against Exxon Mobil. Matt Pawa, a lawyer with the Pawa Law Group in Boston, was also brought in by the Sher Leff firm and was involved in the case from the start. Jurors had more than 400 exhibits to go through, including memos and reports dating back decades. Those memos included some in which Exxon Mobil researchers warned against using MTBE gasoline because of the extensive harm it can do to groundwater.

Source: .com

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Transportation - May 2, 2013 14:06 - 0 Comments

Connecticut Jury Awards $15.7 Million In Fatal Crash Lawsuit

A Connecticut Superior Court jury has awarded $15.7 million to survivors and family members of three people killed in a 2007 crash on an Interstate highway. The jury found that Northeast Carriers, the owner of a tanker truck that jumped the median near an interchange, was negligent and reckless, and caused the crash. The tanker, which was carrying nearly 7,000 gallons of heating fuel, went out of control and crashed head-on into southbound traffic on Nov. 2, 2007. Witnesses testified that the driver, who was killed in the accident, appeared to be racing with another truck driver. Lawyers for Northeast Carriers argued that the second driver deserved some blame for the crash.

Source: The Day of New London

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Toyota Litigation Update - Jan 31, 2013 10:55 - 0 Comments

Toyota Modifies Start-Stop Buttons In Case Of Panic

It was reported recently that Toyota has quietly made a change in most of its models that could save lives if a car’s accelerator sticks open. Significantly, this doesn’t involve the actual model at the center of the litigation comprised of Toyota’s unintended acceleration lawsuits. We wrote about the $1.1 billion settlement elsewhere in this issue. Toyota has modified the start-stop buttons in most of its models so they will shut off the engine after three quick pushes, or after being continuously pushed for two seconds. Those are two big changes from the old policy that required a continuous three-second push to shut down the power.

The start-stop button was cited as a factor in the crash that killed an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer and three family members outside San Diego more than three years ago. The investigation found that in a panic situation, a button required a much longer push than intuitively would be expected to turn off the engine. But, as most of our readers will likely recall, Toyota officials defended the older version at the time, saying it was important to make sure that drivers or their passengers didn’t turn off the car inadvertently by brushing against it.

A few remaining Toyota or Lexus models – at press time Toyota hadn’t specified which – are yet to get the change to a two-second push. The change to the two-second push started a year ago, according to Toyota spokesman Brian Lyons who relayed this information to USA Today. All Toyota and Lexus vehicles, starting in August 2010 will now have buttons that will shut off the engine after three quick pushes. This is a major improvement for a driver in a panic situation. Lyons told USA Today that the changes made to vehicles with the start-stop buttons resulted in part from recommendations from a committee of the SAE, once called the Society of Automotive Engineers. It’s important to note that only cars with the buttons will be affected by the change. Those models have the “electronic key” ignitions instead of the traditional kind in which you insert a metal key and twist to start the engine.

In their efforts to reach a preliminary settlement of its unintended-acceleration lawsuits, Toyota has said it would pay to have a “brake override” feature added to its pedals of many of its non-hybrid models. If a driver pushes the brake and accelerator in quick succession, as if in a panic, the engine speed will be cut to idle. All of Toyota’s hybrids already have this feature. It’s also now standard on all Toyota and Lexus models, regardless of whether they are hybrids or not. I have to wonder why it took Toyota so long to make the needed changes, considering what it had to know about the hazards and dangers caused by sudden acceleration of its cars.

Source: USA Today

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