Parties File Briefs in 5th Circuit, Dispute Whether Benzene Causation Evidence Can Be Used to Support Gasoline Case

NEW ORLEANS –– Shell Oil Co., Chevron USA Inc., and Texaco Inc. have filed an appellate brief in a federal appellate court, arguing that a Louisiana federal court properly dismissed a benzene lawsuit because the plaintiff could not support her gasoline exposure case with evidence.

In a Jan. 7 reply brief filed in the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, however, the plaintiffs maintained their position that the fact that no regulatory agency or scientific body has classified gasoline as a carcinogen “means nothing.”

“Appellees and the district cannot have it both ways –– that the findings of regulatory bodies …