Shell Defendants File Motions for Summary Judgment and Expert Challenges

HOUSTON -- Shell Oil Co. and Shell Chemical LP have filed several motions in a pending Texas federal benzene case, claiming in one that the plaintiff has failed to establish a valid medical causation theory. Brown v. Shell Oil Co., et al., No. 08-413 (S.D. Texas).

In a series of Feb. 17 briefs filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, the defendants also moved for partial summary judgment on the plaintiff's punitive damages claim, sought to exclude the testimony of all the plaintiff's causation experts and separately asked the court to preclude Melvyn Kopstein, Ph.D. …