Louisiana Court Dismisses Strict Liability Claims, Allows Negligence Claims to Proceed

NEW ORLEANS -- A federal court has granted Ashland Inc.'s motion to dismiss strict liability claims in a benzene case, but has denied efforts by the defendant to have negligence claims dismissed as well. Cole, et al. v. Ashland Chemical Inc., et al., No. 09-6584 (E.D. La.).

In a Dec. 10 order, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana found that while the plaintiffs had failed to present evidence that the products were unreasonably dangerous, but that the question of whether Ashland knew about the alleged dangers was one for the jury.

Marvin Weeks and Beverly Neeley, …