HOUSTON, Texas (Legal Newsline)-Setting aside a $100 million verdict, a federal judge has ruled that 10 workers who sued BP over injuries from a chemical release at a Texas oil refinery did not prove the company was grossly negligent.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt on Tuesday rejected the jury's award of punitive damages last December, after a trial over a hazardous chemicals release at the Texas City facility.
Workers said they were exposed to the chemicals while repairing two refining units damaged in a 2005 plantwide shutdown prior to Hurricane Rita's strike on the Texas Coast.
The jury found BP to be grossly negligent and awarded the 10 workers $100 million in punitive damages.
But Hoyt noted that gross negligence required proof of an extreme risk of harm which BP ignored and took no steps to minimize.
He ruled that a reasonable jury could conclude that BP was the source of the release and that the company was negligent, but a finding of gross negligence was necessary to support the punitive damages award.
Plaintiffs' attorney Tony Buzbee said in a statement that the ruling gave refineries a "free pass" from actions that cause harm to workers.
Hoyt let stand more than $325,000 in damages for pain and suffering, medical expenses and lost wages.
BP spokesman Scott Dean said that while the company agreed with Hoyt's ruling, it maintains that the evidence did not support a verdict "in any amount" and that BP still aims to appeal the remaining monetary damages.