Ill. Court Declines to Increase Class Member's Share of Spill Settlement

OTTAWA, Ill. - An Illinois appellate court has denied objections to a class settlement of claims from an oil pipeline leak by a landowner who argued that the trial court wrongly valued affected land as agricultural rather than residential, thus depriving the party of millions of dollars in settlement money. Quick, et al. v. Shell Oil Co., No. 3-09-0987 (Ill. App. Ct., 3rd Dist.).

The Third District Appellate Court of Illinois found there was no abuse of discretion in the trial court's decision to award the Estate of Martha J. Danhausen $120,489 instead of the $4,689,200 sought by her heirs.