ExxonMobil ruling upheld

• By SANDY DAVIS
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Jul 6, 2009 - Page: 1B

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A lawsuit filed by about 5,700 Baton Rouge residents against ExxonMobil Corp. over a 1993 fire crawled through federal court for almost 15 years and has finally come to an end — the residents lost, lawyers said.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on June 24, in New Orleans, affirmed a District Court judge’s 2008 decision in favor of ExxonMobil.

A lawyer for some of the plaintiffs said it was a little like David versus Goliath and, in this case, Goliath won.

“Exxon has some of the greatest defense lawyers in the world,” said Calvin Fayard Jr., a Denham Springs lawyer who represented some of the plaintiffs.

“They are also one of the biggest corporate entities in the world. They make more money than some countries do,” Fayard added.

The lawsuit was filed over an Aug. 2, 1993, fire at the East Coker Unit of the Exxon Chemical Plant in Baton Rouge.

Residents who lived in nearby neighborhoods claimed the fire started when a 6-inch elbow pipe fitting at the plant ruptured.

They claimed it ruptured because the elbow pipe was composed of carbon steel rather than chromium, which the plant’s design specifications required.

The fire caused a plume that drifted over the neighborhoods in which the plaintiffs lived, according to court documents. The plaintiffs claimed in the lawsuit that chemical particulates in the plume may have caused them health problems.

After a January 2008 bench trial, U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn of the Northern District of Texas ruled on July 18, 2008, that ExxonMobil was not liable for any damages the neighbors may have suffered.

“Ordered, adjudged and decreed that plaintiffs shall take nothing on their claims, costs of court are taxed against plaintiffs. All other relief requested by any party is denied,” Lynn wrote in the ruling.

On June 24, the 5th Circuit, which covers Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, issued a three-paragraph ruling that supported Lynn’s decision.

Attempts to reach Charles S. McCowan, an attorney for ExxonMobil, late last week were unsuccessful.