JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court was to hear oral arguments Monday in an oil company’s appeal of a $19 million verdict for five women who alleged Texaco, now part of Chevron, was responsible for their children born with disabilities and illnesses.
A Hinds County jury ruled for the woman in 2010; the oil company appealed.
The women had claimed they were pregnant when they worked in an old Jefferson County office building in Fayette, which previously was a gasoline station affiliated with Texaco. The women sued, saying they were exposed to leaded gasoline fumes from tanks left in the ground when the former station was renovated.
A Texaco expert testified at trial that no medical records substantiated the claims of the women being exposed to dangerous levels of leaded gasoline fumes.
