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Uploaded: Thursday, August 16, 2012, 6:56 AM
Updated: Friday, August 17, 2012, 7:06 AM
3 lawyers sue Chevron for 'gross negligence' in causing Aug. 6 refinery fire
Suit alleges company could have avoided fire with better maintenance
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Three Bay Area attorneys filed a lawsuit against Chevron Wednesday, claiming the oil company was "grossly negligent" in its handling of maintenance leading up to the massive Aug. 6 fire at its Richmond refinery that sent thousands of local residents to hospitals.
Oakland civil rights attorney John Burris teamed with San
Francisco-based lawyers Matthew Kumin and Patrick Goggin to file the lawsuit
Wednesday on behalf of nine Richmond residents, including three children, who
have allegedly suffered illnesses, emotional distress and other hardships due
to the fire.
At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Burris told reporters
and local residents that Chevron could have avoided the fire and thick smoke
that sent several thousand people to the hospital with respiratory illnesses,
headaches, nausea and other symptoms.
"This is a willful disregard, in many ways, of a dangerous
situation," he said.
The lawsuit alleges that Chevron could have avoided the explosion
and fire sparked by a leaky oil pipe if they had implemented "proper safety
measures and a timely response."
Burris said Chevron's "failure to act immediately with urgency
when the leak was initially discovered was unconscionable. Chevron's conduct
needlessly placed the health of thousands at risk."
The three attorneys said they hope the lawsuit will require
Chevron to beef up safety measures to prevent another accidental release of
pollutants.
Since the fire, about 8,800 local residents have filed liability
claims to reimburse medical fees and property damage through a process set up
by Chevron days after the blaze, according to Chevron spokeswoman Melissa
Ritchie. Some 7,500 people have filed claims via a phone hotline, while 1,300
have filed a claim in person at a help center set up by Chevron that opened
last week at the Nevin Community Center.
Chevron officials say they hope to reimburse the claims within a
month.
The attorneys who filed the suit against the oil giant Wednesday
cautioned residents who have filed such claims not to sign any waiver that
might prevent them from pursuing further legal action against Chevron.
Ritchie said again Wednesday that Chevron is not asking anyone
filing a claim to give up the right to a potential lawsuit.— Bay City News Service Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
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Posted by liberalism is a disease, a resident of the Birdland neighborhood, on Aug 16, 2012 at 9:11 am
liberalism is a disease is a member (registered user) of PleasantonWeekly.com Leave it to John Burris to chase down the nearest ambulance. Never fail to take advantage of a crisis, as Rahm would say.....
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Posted by Steve, a resident of the Birdland neighborhood, on Aug 16, 2012 at 10:10 am Didn't Chevron try to upgrade their refinery several years ago but weren't allowed to complete the upgrade?
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Posted by Arnold, a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood neighborhood, on Aug 16, 2012 at 10:28 am Public safety and health? They've gotta be kidding. Just another liberal's Big Brother effort to stop capitalists from doing what they do best, make profits by destroying the environment. A few sick children on account of a job creating hero's negligence? That's the price of freedom my friends! And according to my research and extensive calculations, a tick upward on the Dow is worth far more than any child's life. Give us back our tax money!
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Posted by liberalism is a disease, a resident of the Birdland neighborhood, on Aug 16, 2012 at 3:26 pm
liberalism is a disease is a member (registered user) of PleasantonWeekly.com Yes, Steve, the equipment upgrade that Chevron required to utilize additional raw materials and to upgrade the safety of their infrastructure was prevented by 'community activists' and their lawyers, who misrepresented the project as one that would greatly increase capacity (as though that was bad thing). I guess you reap what you sow.....their actions resulted in compromises in safety and prevented increases in the number of people working at this facility.
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Posted by Arnold, a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood neighborhood, on Aug 16, 2012 at 4:55 pm Of course, that's what 'community activists' try to do. Stop health and safety upgrades. Do you know why? Because 'community activists' hate people.
Further, need I add that Obama is/was a 'community activist'? Have you heard the invective coming from that incompetent, Muslim, nonChristian, Kenyan terrorist socialist and tyrant who is a dog-eating hater who wants America to fail? He has the audacity to laugh at the Mittster and have his surrogates ask him to prove that he's not a crook, which he can't do, but so what? How undignifying to launch hateful invective like that!
The real tragedy here, however, is that all this is costing American taxpayers. We have inferior cultures in this country taking taxpayer money straight out of the sharks' teeth of us superior ones.
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Posted by common sense, a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood neighborhood, on Aug 16, 2012 at 8:25 pm Im sure the wind drifted south after that refinery accident, cough, cough. Where can I line up to make a claim. lol
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Posted by liberalism is a disease, a resident of the Birdland neighborhood, on Aug 17, 2012 at 10:09 am
liberalism is a disease is a member (registered user) of PleasantonWeekly.com troll posing as Arnold: You're right--obama is an incompetent boob.
As is Harry Reid, falsely accusing Mr. Romney of criminal acts without any factual evidence. Of course, he chucked that grenade right before their most recent recess, so the gutless old fart wouldn't be questioned about his sources for his claims.
So, yeah, let's have four more years of the wonderful prosperity, openness, transparency and post-racial bliss that this administration has brought us.
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Posted by Bill, a resident of the Amberwood/Wood Meadows neighborhood, on Aug 17, 2012 at 3:13 pm Can hardly wait for the seniors moving into Stoneridge Creek retirement community to start bitching and complaining about the noise from Livermore Airport.
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Posted by Cholo, a resident of Livermore, on Aug 18, 2012 at 3:09 pm i think it's time call in JAR JAR BINKS to help unravel this mess...
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