Discovery Deadlines Pushed Back for Dow Chemical in La. Benzene Case

BATON ROUGE, La. –– A Louisiana federal court has denied in part a request to extend discovery deadlines, ruling that it would only push back the deadline to Jan. 4, as opposed to the late January deadline Dow Chemical had sought.

In the Nov. 30 one-page order, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana extended the deadlines to complete non-expert discovery and to file discovery motions related to third-party demands.

The suit, filed by Betty Ventress, says her late husband Ernest's work as a contract laborer for National Maintenance and Turner Industries led him to …