Louisiana Federal Court Denies Efforts by Shell to Dismiss Jones Act Claims

NEW ORLEANS –– Plaintiffs in a benzene kidney cancer case will be permitted to pursue their Jones Act claims against Shell Oil Co. and Shell Offshore after a federal court found that, at this stage of the pleadings, the plaintiffs had sufficiently asserted claims for maintenance and cure.

In the Jan. 14 decision, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana did grant the Shell defendants’ motion to dismiss loss of consortium claims, noting that the plaintiffs had conceded that such claims cannot be brought under the Jones Act.

The plaintiffs contend that Joseph O’Quain’s work as an …