Louisiana Appellate Court Denies Chance to Weigh in on Dispute Involving Timeliness of Benzene Claims

NEW ORLEANS –– A Louisiana appellate court has denied two benzene defendants’ efforts to obtain appellate review of a timeliness dispute, rejecting the defendants’ position that the plaintiffs were put on notice of the cause of the decedent’s injuries when he was diagnosed.

In separate orders issued May 11, the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal denied petitions for supervisory writs filed by Shell Oil Co. and ExxonMobil Corp.

The plaintiffs asserted the claims in October 2015, contending that Preston Washington Sr.’s Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) was caused by exposure to benzene-containing products. The complaint said that Washington was …