Ariz. Court Rejects Low Level Causation Testimony in Benzene Case, Awards Summary Judgment to Defendants

PHOENIX –– An Arizona court has awarded summary judgment to two defendants in a benzene case, concluding that the expert proffered by the plaintiffs to testify on specific causation had failed to pass Daubert admissibility standards.

In the Jan. 18 decision, the Arizona Superior Court for Maricopa County found that the opinion of the plaintiffs’ expert has not been tested and that no test results have been provided “confirming that exposure to benzene at the low levels [the decedent] was exposed to in fact causes cancer.”

“The theory that low-level exposure causes cancer has not been subjected to peer review,” …