La. Appellate Court Affirms Denial of Benefits in Benzene-Related Workers’ Comp Case

GRETNA, La. –– A Louisiana appellate court has affirmed a workers’ compensation judge’s decision denying benefits to a former employee who said his non-Hodgkin’s lyphoma was caused by occupational exposure to benzene.

In the Oct. 28 opinion the Louisiana 5th Circuit Court of Appeal opined that the judge had not erred when it was persuaded by the testimony of the defendants’ expert witness over that of the plaintiff’s expert witness.

Plaintiff David Allensworth filed a claim for workers’ compensation benefits against his former employers, Gulf South Systems LLC and Grand Isle Shipyard Inc., contending that he developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma as …