Texas Court Upholds Bulk Supplier Defense in Benzene Case

HOUSTON - A Texas appeals court has upheld an award of summary judgment to several benzene manufacturers determining that, as bulk suppliers of the product, they had no duty to warn users of the leukemia risks associated with exposure to benzene. Wood v. Phillips Petroleum Company, et al., No. 14-01-01062-CV (Texas App. Ct., Fourteenth Dist.).

The Fourteenth District Court of Appeals held Sept. 9 that the bulk supplier defense was available to the defendants because the evidence reflects that plaintiff J.D. McCullough's employer, Monsanto Co., was well aware of the dangers posed by benzene at the time McCullough alleges that …