La. Supreme Court Reverses Multi-Million Exemplary Damage Award in NORM Case

NEW ORLEANS –– The Louisiana Supreme Court has reversed an intermediate appellate court’s decision that allowed a multi-million exemplary damages award to stand in a radiation exposure suit, finding that the claim had already been litigated in a previous suit brought by the same plaintiff.

In the Dec. 9 decision, the state high court reasoned that since a prior jury weighing fear-of-cancer claims found that Exxon had not engaged in wanton and reckless conduct, a subsequent jury assessing the plaintiff’s cancer claims was barred from answering the same question.

Hundreds of plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in 2002, contending that they …