BP Settling Benzene Leukemia Lawsuits
From Missouri an article about benzene exposure and the related diseases. Notice that the diseases listed here are: Leukemia and Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. These are two that are pretty tightly connected to benzene exposure.
These lawsuits here are slightly different in that they are related to environmental exposure and not direct industrial exposure such we see in tire manufacturers, printers, oil workers and petroleum transporters.
From the Examiner:
The 28 remaining lawsuits against BP related to the former Amoco Sugar Creek Refinery are being settled out of court.
Attorney Lon Walters, of The Walters Law Firm, who represented the former and current Sugar Creek residents in the suit, released a statement on Thursday saying BP and the plaintiffs have agreed to resolve all lawsuits over alleged that the residents were exposed to toxic substances. Neither side would release terms of the settlement.
Jury selection was slated to begin Monday for the next trial. However, two days of settlement hearings will be held instead before Jackson County Circuit Judge Marco Roldan.
Only one of the 31 cases filed against BP has gone to trial. In 2005, Leonard Ryan, whose wife died from leukemia, was awarded $13.3 million plus undisclosed punitive damages.
BP has settled two cases out of court for undisclosed settlements.The first in 2006, with Justin Detel, of Sugar Creek, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and the second in 2007, with Sean Reed, who lived in Sugar Creek from the time of his birth in 1981 until about age 5, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and leukemia in 1985 and underwent chemotherapy and radiation as a child.
