One major personal injury issue which I have never seen addressed is the harm to brains from lead in petrol/gasoline which blew out exhaust pipes and over crops and cities. At 0.84 grams per litre, which was a common amount used, and with say 8 km per litre [a common mileage in "Yank tanks"] and say 16,000 km per year, that's 1.6 kg a year sprayed out the back [other than some which got stuck in the engine and exhaust system to poison engine and exhaust pipe workers and their families [with dust carried home on clothing].
Lead exposure is old hat in my biz. That tort is playing out.
Benzene-caused leukemia is the tort du jour in the oilfield, and a very profitable one it is. And the science behind the carcinogenicity of benzene is not junk. Diesel is carcinogenic, too.
I have seen Exxon get hammered to the tune of $1 billion right here in my hometown for "NORM", naturally occurring radioactive material which, when cleaned out of drilling pipes and spread over the cleaning field, allegedly causes all kinds of evil things including contamination of the ground, ground water, extra thumbs, etc. I think this is equine manure, but there is a very nice cottage industry making lawyers very wealthy pursuing these types of claims. Not me, I am a defendants' lawyer 90% of the time. Defendants need lawyers, too, you know, butwe are not nearly as spectacularly well paid as plaintiffs' counsel.
I would say that the junk science pursued by the claimants' bar - which my clients oppose - has done a lot to fund my QCOM portfolio, so there is some rough justice being done as they are indirectly funding the pixilation of photons, peace, love and understanding, etc. |
