Rectifying Environmentally Historic Wrongs

Corporate Liability; Toxic Torts

Taylor Ernst, Don A. Ernst and Terry J. Kilpatrick, Ernst Law Group, APC; Brian J. Ward and Erin L. Powers, Trial Lawyers for Justice

Toxic tort cases where plaintiffs' injuries arose decades ago are notoriously difficult to prove and win. But attorneys from Ernst Law Group APC and Trial Lawyers for Justice -- enduring what one called "scorched earth litigation" from a deep pockets defendant now owned by Chevron Corp. -- prevailed and obtained a $63 million jury award for a man who developed cancer more than 25 years after living over an old oilfield sump pit.

The award included $41 million in punitive damages. Making matters harder for the plaintiff's lawyers was the complication that their client's multiple myeloma was in remission at the time of the 23-day trial. Wright v. Union Oil Co. of California, 21CV00925 (S. Barbara Sup. Ct., filed March 8, 2021).

"We had to work for our facts. They didn't want to give us any discovery. They violated court orders," said M. Taylor Ernst, the founder of San Luis Obispo's Ernst Law Group, who brought on Trial Lawyers for Justice to try the case.

Co-counsel Brian J. Ward, of Trial Lawyers for Justice's Ventura office, said that along with seeking justice for client Kevin Wright the team was motivated by a wish to document the history of the oil and gas industry's abuse of California's environment.

"And that's what we did," Ward said. "Going deep into the history books we found our client's injury came at the epicenter of the industry that began in the 1890s in the Santa Maria oil fields. "We treated the courtroom like a public square where we could expose an industry that has long ducked accountability here."

Joining Taylor Ernst and Ward were Don A. Ernst and Terry J. Kilpatrick of Ernst Law Group and Erin L. Powers of Trial Lawyers for Justice. That firm's Jakob Z. Norman of Bozeman, Mont., was also on the team.

They faced off with defense lawyers from Alston & Bird LLP and King & Spaulding LLP.

At one point early in the trial the defense violated a court ruling they'd sought that barred use of the term "big oil." Ward said, "So they started out by saying, 'Who has a problem with big oil?'" Superior Court Judge James F. Rigali asked the plaintiffs if they wanted a new trial. "We declined, based on our faith and pride in our case," Ernst said.

He likened the trial to a war. "There was no mediation. There was no high low agreement. There was no settlement conference." The defense offered $50,000 to end the case, he said. Cross-appeals are in progress.

Wright had lived on the contaminated premises for two years and was diagnosed 27 years later with a cancer known to be associated with benzene exposure. The defense denied everything, and the court excluded evidence that Chevron had made remedial efforts to clean the property in 2016.

The plaintiff team found old aerial photos of the oil field showing the location of a chemical sump pit the size of an Olympic swimming pool -- "literally underneath our client's bedroom," Ernst said.

After the trial's liability phase, Ward said the team was uncertain about quantifying punitives. "But the jury found a way. They made it a million dollars for every year the place went without a cleanup."

--John Roemer