BREAKING: High Court Turns Away Exxon’s Challenge To $236M MTBE Verdict

Federal Litigation, New Hampshire, Sustainability

May 16, 2016

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by Keith Goldberg (Law 360) The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to review a $236 million trial judgment against ExxonMobil Corp. in a groundwater contamination case in New Hampshire, leaving in place a verdict the energy giant claims is a violation of its due process rights.

The high court denied Exxon’s Jan. 20 petition for high court review, which had been opposed by New Hampshire and backed by business and defense bar groups.

New Hampshire won the judgment in 2013 against Exxon over its use of the gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE, and the New Hampshire Supreme Court upheld the judgment in October.

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New Hampshire also ripped Exxon’s claim that its use of MTBE was the only feasible way to comply with the state’s Clean Air Act-mandated program to oxygenate gasoline, saying federal courts have consistently held that the law doesn’t preempt state actions imposing liability for manufacturers’ decisions to use MTBE.

New Hampshire sued 16 oil companies over the additive in 2003, claiming they knew it would contaminate water supplies and be difficult to clean up but ignored those risks. The state settled with 15 of the defendants for a total of $136 million in consideration. Only Exxon went to trial. READ MORE / MORE

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