U.S. top court rejects Exxon appeal in groundwater contamination case
Source: Reuters
U.S. top court rejects Exxon appeal in groundwater contamination case
By Lawrence Hurley
May 17, 2016
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected Exxon Mobil Corp's appeal of a $236 million judgment against the oil company in a case brought by the state of New Hampshire over groundwater contamination linked to a gasoline additive.
The justices left in place the New Hampshire Supreme Court's 2015 ruling upholding the judgment by a jury that in 2013 spurned Exxon's claims that the contamination linked to its fuel additive was not its fault but rather the fault of the local gas stations and storage facilities that spilled it.
Exxon argued in its appeal that its due process rights were violated because New Hampshire had not proved the company's liability for the alleged pollution at each individual site.
The additive at the center of the case is called methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE. It is an oxygen-containing substance that was added to gasoline to promote more complete combustion and reduce air pollution.
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