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Keaton v. Mobil

$2.75 million death case against Mobil and Allwaste

On February 9, 1999, the Law Offices of Raphael Metzger settled a leukemia and death case against Mobil Oil Corporation and Allwaste Environmental Services for $2,750,000.

Robert Keaton was a gregarious young man who lived life's pleasures to the fullest. He traveled widely, enjoyed sports, and knew how to have a good time. When he wasn't traveling or experiencing life's pleasures, he did construction work to earn money for his next venture.

From October 1994 to March 1995 Robert did construction work at the Mobil Oil Refinery in Torrance, California. As a carpenter, he constructed foundations for new facilities that Mobil was building to produce clean-burning fuels. He did this work in trenches, working in soil at the refinery that was heavily contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbon wastes. Allwaste Environmental Services, a hazardous waste management company, was engaged to monitor volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions at the construction site, to comply with South Coast Air Quality regulations. Allwaste recorded total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) emissions in the area Robert worked as high as several thousand parts per million (ppm). When the emissions became too great, Allwaste instructed Robert and his co-workers to clear the area. In a videotaped deposition given in his hospital bed shortly before his death, Robert testified that at times the vapors were so strong they penetrated through the respirator he was at times told to wear.

About a half year later, Robert was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), a rare blood disease in which all the different types of blood cells are misshapen and dysfunctional. MDS is a rare disease which is usually fatal, especially if the disease progresses to Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML). Robert underwent several cycles of chemotherapy and eventually received a bone marrow transplant. He survived and recovered from the transplant, but suffered graft-versus-host disease (rejection of his donor's bone marrow), resulting in internal organ failure and Robert's untimely death on April 11, 1997 at the age of 36.

Robert's parents sued Mobil Oil Corporation and Allwaste for negligence, premises liability, ultrahazardous activities, fraudulent concealment of hazards, and battery. They claimed that the petroleum hydrocarbon wastes at the refinery contained benzene, which caused Robert's MDS, AML and eventual death.

MDS and AML are well-recognized as being caused by exposure to benzene, and Robert had a specific chromosomal abnormality that has frequently been associated in the toxicology literature with benzene exposure. Mobil's hematology expert claimed that Robert was exposed to too little benzene for too short a time to cause his MDS/AML. However, he acknowledged that Robert's disease could have begun while he was working at the refinery. Trial was scheduled to begin on February 1st, but was continued briefly, and the case settled for $2,750,000.

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