Judge Refuses Exxon’s Request to Create Trust for $104 Million MTBE Judgment

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York has denied a motion to create a court-supervised trust for the more than $104 million ExxonMobil was ordered to pay the City of New York for MTBE contamination of the city’s water supply.

U.S. Dist. Judge Shira A. Scheindlin ruled July 30 that ExxonMobil lacked standing to assert a reversionary interest in the trust, which would have returned any funds not used for the creation of a new City water treatment facility to the defendant.

In October 2009, a jury in Judge Scheindlin’s Southern District of New York court found Exxon …