Benzene Plaintiffs Seek New Trial, Contest Defense Verdict; Sunoco Counters, Citing Lack of Prejudice

PHILADELPHIA –– Parties involved in a benzene case that recently ended in a defense verdict have exchanged post-trial briefs with defendant Sunoco Inc., maintaining that the decedent developed myelodysplastic syndrome as a result of the treatment he received for acute myelogenous leukemia, making causation evidence linking benzene-containing gasoline exposure to MDS irrelevant.

In their Nov. 21 post-trial motion, the plaintiffs asked the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas for Philadelphia County to order a new trial on all issues, asserting in part that the trial court erred when it excluded evidence of the decedent’s diagnosis and excluding evidence that exposure …