Complaint Calls Defendant's Behavior 'Atrocious and Utterly Intolerable'

SEATTLE -- A Washington benzene lawsuit has called the conduct of former and current premises owners and operators of a refinery 'so outrageous and so extreme in degree' that it exceeded 'all possible bounds of decency and [is] to be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable.' Darmanin, et al. v ConocoPhillips Co., et al., No. 06-1429 (W.D. Wash.).

The non-Hodgkin's lymphoma complaint, filed Sept. 25 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, states further that the defendants withheld information regarding the toxic effects of benzene, and failed to provide adequate warnings.

Anthony and Alice Darmanin …