Jury backs BP in pollution lawsuit

Jurors in Kansas sided with British oil company BP North America in a pollution lawsuit filed by a town seeking to recover the costs of clean-up and damage caused by a refinery.

Jurors hearing the case reached their decision after less than three days of deliberation in one of the longest jury trials held in the US.

The trial began in late August, with jurors hearing from 46 witnesses during 69 days of testimony. Deliberations resumed yesterday after a two-week break.

“We are shell-shocked. It was just like we were at a funeral. We just don’t understand what happened,” said Rochelle Chronister, a resident of Neodesha, in south-east Kansas, and former state legislator who attended the verdict announcement and most of the trial.

Ms Chronister said jurors did not give a reason for the verdict, but their lawyers were trying to interview jurors and see what happened.

“We have no idea what happened, what went wrong,” she said. “Maybe it was too much money – who knows. We are going to ask for some kind of remediation with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and BP and figure out what to do next.”

Juror Ann Atchison told the Independence Daily Reporter that jurors all were in agreement.

“It was a long trial. We didn’t find anything that showed us any wrongdoing by BP. Nothing stood out as any wrongdoing on BP’s part,” Ms Atchison said.

Neodesha demanded more than £211m (€283m) in a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of the 2,700 residents. The massive lawsuit alleged liability for spills, breach of contract and fraud. They lost on all counts.

BP spokeswoman Valerie Corr said the company was pleased with the verdict and intended to continue the clean-up at Neodesha. The company said in a statement that the verdict reflected the findings of an independent government study that confirmed the contamination posed no apparent health hazard.

The contamination covers almost 70% of the town, including underneath City Hall, hundreds of homes and the community’s schools. Experts found groundwater pollution under 350 acres after the city spent £500,000 (€735,424) to hire its own experts and drill test wells.

The refinery operated from 1897 until it was dismantled in 1970 and the property was donated to the city.

The lawsuit claimed the operation of the oil refinery and associated laboratories and storage facilities generated a variety of poisonous wastes, including benzene, toluene, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and metals such as arsenic, lead and mercury.

Although some of the contaminants are known to cause cancer and other diseases, the lawsuit was not a personal injury case but instead sought property damages.