Court Finds for Shell and Chevron on Pipe Worker’s Radioactivity Exposure Claims

NEW ORLEANS — A federal court has granted summary judgment sought by Shell (NYSE: RDS) and Chevron (NYSE: CVX) on claims by a laborer that he faces an increased risk of cancer from exposure to radioactive debris in used drilling pipes.

Judge Sarah S. Vance of the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Louisiana ruled Jan. 2 that while Clarence Hill offered sufficient circumstantial evidence that he handled pipes used by defendants in the 1970s, he produced no evidence that those pipes contained radioactive scale.

Hill alleged that defendant energy firms sent oilfield production tubes to Tuboscope Vetco …