Sep. 12, 2013
Jessica L. Grant
See more on Jessica L. GrantCoblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP | San Francisco | Practice type: Litigation
This year, ExxonMobil International Ltd.'s strategy of exhausting its opponents in litigation met with Grant's reputation for felling giants. And as she has done in the past, Grant took a smaller team into the courtroom than her opponent, argued complicated issues in front of a jury, and won.
Representing the state of New Hampshire, Grant secured a $236 million verdict against Exxon after negotiating more than $130 million in other settlements in a drinking water contamination case involving the chemical MTBE. Citgo Petroleum Corp. began the trial alongside Exxon and settled after Grant delivered her three-hour opening statement. State of New Hampshire v. Amerada Hess Corp. et al., 03-C-0550 (N.H. Super. Ct., filed September 30, 2003).
The trial boiled down to an argument over the total damages inflicted by the contamination - Exxon's liability was determined to be a percentage of that number. The oil giant's lawyers argued the total damages were less than $10 million, but the jury found them to be more than $817 million. While Exxon claimed it should be held culpable for 4 percent of those damages, the jury decided it was responsible for more than 28 percent of the harm.
Grant explained that New Hampshire law dictates interest should be calculated based on the date a case was filed, which was approximately 10 years ago. "I think the total number will be north of $400 million."
Grant said Exxon filed a number of post-trial motions, including requests to set aside the verdict or get a new trial, all of which were denied in an Aug. 9 order. She said final judgment hadn't been entered yet and she expects Exxon to appeal to the state's Supreme Court.
- JOSHUA SEBOLD
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