Jury Awards More than $100 Million to Workers for Single Incident Exposure

HOUSTON -- A federal jury in Texas has awarded more than $100 million to 10 BP Products North America workers who claimed that they were injured as a result of the release of toxic substances -- including benzene -- in April 2007. Garner, et al. v. BP Amoco Chemical Co., et al., No. 07-221 (S.D. Texas).

On Dec. 18, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas awarded $10 million to each plaintiff in punitive damages, as well as more than $300,000 total for compensatory damages.

According to the jury instructions, the 10 plaintiffs claim they were …