$725.5 Million Verdict Against ExxonMobil for a Mechanic's Leukemia, Reported as the Largest Benzene Award in U.S. History

In the second half of the 1970s, Paul Gill worked as a mechanic at a Mobil service station. Day after day, he cleaned car parts with gasoline and petroleum solvents, often with his bare hands. He breathed the fumes and absorbed the products through his skin. No one warned him that the gasoline contained benzene, a chemical long tied to blood cancers.

In 2019, doctors diagnosed Gill, by then living in Addison, New York, with acute myeloid leukemia. He and his wife Diane sued ExxonMobil in 2020 in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, Case ID 200501803, alleging the company had known for decades that benzene causes cancer and failed to warn the workers who handled its products.

Andrew J. DuPont of Locks Law Firm brought the case to trial before Judge Carmella Jacquinto alongside co-counsel Rajeev Mittal and Patrick Wigle of Waters Kraus Paul & Siegel. Over seven days of testimony, the plaintiffs presented evidence of what the petroleum industry knew about benzene and when. ExxonMobil contested causation and argued the evidence did not support the product defect and failure to warn claims.

The jury deliberated for a full day. In May 2024 it returned a 10 to 2 verdict: $725 million for Paul Gill and $500,000 for Diane Gill, a total of $725.5 million. The award was reported as the largest benzene verdict in U.S. history and one of the largest product liability verdicts in the country that year. "This verdict is important because it's a finding that their gasoline causes cancer," Wigle said afterward. ExxonMobil called the verdict irrational and promised to fight it.

The company moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or a new trial. On September 12, 2024, Judge Jacquinto denied all of ExxonMobil's post-trial motions. She also added more than $90 million in delay damages under Pennsylvania rules, bringing the total judgment to just under $816 million.

ExxonMobil then appealed to the Pennsylvania Superior Court, docket 2811 EDA 2024. The appeal drew heavy interest from business and defense groups. In June 2025, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Washington Legal Foundation, and other organizations filed amicus briefs urging the court to overturn the award or impose stricter review of large noneconomic damages. The appeal remains pending, and no Superior Court decision had been reported as of mid 2026.

For Gill, the case was never about the size of the number. He was a service station mechanic who did his job the way he was shown, with products he was never told could kill him. Until the Superior Court rules, the judgment against ExxonMobil stands at just under $816 million.