Ill. Court Allows Shell to Appeal Part of Order Denying Efforts to Dismiss Benzene Contamination Claims

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. –– An Illinois federal court has granted in part a motion to certify an order in which a District Court denied Shell Oil Co.’s’s motion to dismiss benzene contamination claims in Roxana, Ill.

In the March 4 order, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois wrote that Shell will be permitted to appeal the question of whether a town ordinance discussing the unlawful disposal of an “offensive substance” includes the release of petroleum byproducts.

The underlying claims were filed by the Village of Roxana against Shell, contending that one of the company’s …