The Baltimore Sun reports that the jury has reached a verdict in a Baltimore lawsuit in which the plaintiffs are seeking “several billion dollars” in compensatory and punitive damages from Exxon Mobil Corp. The verdict will be read at 9 am tomorrow.
The plaintiffs are 300 residents of Jacksonville Maryland who allege that 26,000 gallons of gasoline seeped into that city’s groundwater from a leaking pipe in 2006. They contend that Exxon officials knew leak-detection equipment was inadequate. Exxon says it accepts responsibility for cleaning up the spill but did not commit fraud or act with intentional malice or negligence. The jury began deliberating February 27 after a 19-week trial.
