Conoco Phillips Appeals Mississippi Worker’s $15.2M Asbestos Award

Article

A Jones County man waited too long to file a lawsuit over exposure his exposure to workplace asbestos, attorneys told the Mississippi Supreme Court this week.

The Mississippi Supreme Court heard arguments from Conoco Phillips Corp., which has appealed a $15.2 million jury award to an oil well drilling worker who alleged he got lung disease from exposure to asbestos.

J. Jeffrey Trotter of Ridgeland, an attorney representing Conoco Phillips, told the court that Troy Lofton waited for nearly a decade to file his lawsuit. Trotter said Lofton was diagnosed with a lung ailment as early as 1993. The three-year statute of limitations began counting down in 1993, Trotter said, when Lofton discovered he had an injury — not 10 years later when he learned what caused the ailment.

Trotter said Lofton sued only after he was told that his ailment was related to exposure to asbestos.

“With the symptoms for which he was seeking treatment, a reasonable person would have asked the doctor what was wrong with his lungs,” Trotter said.

In 2010, a Jones County jury ruled for Lofton in his lawsuit against CP Chem, a joint venture between Conoco Phillips Corp. and Chevron Corp.

Lofton claimed CP Chem knowingly shipped a product containing asbestos for 20 years that was used in the oil and gas well drilling industry. Lofton claimed that as a result of that exposure he has had to remain on oxygen 24 hours a day.

Gregory Jones, a Houston attorney representing Lofton, said the product provided by the company to Lofton and other workers was defective and produced inhalable asbestos fibers. He said that there were products available that did not create dust, but that CP Chem declined to use them.

Jones said Lofton was never told he had an actionable lung injury before 2003. He said asbestosis can appear many years after exposure.

Jones said working on oil rigs is not the same as being employed in a refinery or other place where employees may have a labor union or work for a company that looks out for its employees.

“There was no one looking out for Mr. Lofton,” Jones said.