10th Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Benzene Claims Against ConocoPhillips as Time-Barred

DENVER –– The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the dismissal of benzene claims as time-barred, agreeing with the District Court that the plaintiffs had failed to outline why they were unable to discover the cause of the alleged injury before 2015.

In the Feb. 12 opinion, the 10th Circuit further found that the complaint did not state how the plaintiffs exercised reasonable diligence in determining the alleged cause of the plaintiff’s cancer.

Plaintiffs Thomas Boettcher and Pamelia Vennerberg filed the underlying claims, contending that Thomas Boettcher developed cancer as a result of exposure to emissions from ConocoPhillips’s refinery …