Class Action Suit for MTBE

Hart & Hickman represented a group of oil company defendants in a proposed class-action lawsuit involving the gasoline oxygenate MTBE.  The lawsuit alleged that every water supply well in North Carolina was at risk of contamination by MTBE. The activities included review of over 600 incident files with a contaminated water supply well at State regional offices and review of over 12,000 water supply well samples from the State toxicologist to determine the occurrence, concentration, and sources of MTBE, other petroleum hydrocarbon compounds, and other contaminants in water supply wells.  H&H’s expert prepared affidavits and provided testimony in State court in the class certification hearing. The class certification was subsequently denied.