Calif. Appellate Court Declines to Review Decision Reversing Summary Judgment Award in Benzene Case

SAN FRANCISCO –– A California appellate court has declined to reconsider its prior decision reversing an award of summary judgment to U.S. Steel in a benzene exposure suit, standing by its prior finding that the defendant had not presented evidence that would negate the existence of a design defect.

The California First District Court of Appeal, Division Three, denied U.S. Steel’s rehearing petition on Sept. 22.

In its Sept. 1 opinion, the appellate court wrote that defendant U.S. Steel had failed to present evidence that Radiator “added any chemical or did anything in formulating or packaging Liquid Wrench that increased …