Overview
Harris Martin Publishing covered Steptoe's win for Valvoline in an article titled "Ariz. Court Rejects Low Level Causation Testimony in Benzene Case, Awards Summary Judgment to Defendants." On January 18, Steptoe obtained a summary judgment victory for Valvoline in the Superior Court of Arizona when a judge disqualified the plaintiffs' medical causation theory, thereby thwarting the plaintiff's claims that Valvoline's brake cleaner caused a fatal form of cancer in a 32-year-old auto mechanic. The judge also awarded Valvoline more $180,000 in costs.
The plaintiffs' medical causation expert opined that decedent’s exposure to benzene in the product Pyroil between 2009 and 2012 ultimately led to his death, regardless of the dosage he received. After engaging in an article-by-article analysis of each piece of scientific literature cited by the plaintiffs, the court concluded that the plaintiff's evidence was "nothing more than a hypothesis… [the expert's] opinion flies in the face of accepted dose-response analysis."
The decision showcased that a Daubert motion is still an effective method for disqualifying expert testimony in toxic tort cases, despite a more general trend of judges leaving an analysis of the science up to a jury.
The case was handled by Steptoe Los Angeles partner Jason Levin and of counsel Jennifer Bonneville, along with Phoenix partner Alan Bayless Feldman.
The full story can be read at Harris Martin (subscription required).