ExxonMobil Asbestos Death Verdict Upheld, $4 Million Verdict Reduced to $2.27 Million Judgment
After trial: The $4 million verdict was offset by $1.73 million in prior settlements under RCW 4.22.060, leaving a $2.27 million judgment. The Court of Appeals vacated that judgment for a new settlement reasonableness hearing, and the Supreme Court affirmed the verdict in 2023.
Won by Schroeter Goldmark & Bender.
Warren Wright, a contract foreman, was exposed to asbestos insulation at ExxonMobil's Ferndale, Washington refinery in 1979 and died of mesothelioma in 2015. His son sued, and a jury found ExxonMobil liable and awarded $4 million in 2019. After credits for settlements by other defendants, judgment was entered for $2.27 million. The Washington Supreme Court affirmed on August 3, 2023.
What happened
In 1979, Warren Wright was a working foreman for Northwestern Industrial Maintenance, a contractor hired to do maintenance at the Mobil refinery in Ferndale, Washington. His crew spent about three months demolishing old insulation from pipes, pumps and other equipment in an out-of-service unit. The workers were told the insulation contained asbestos. They wore respirators and wet the material down, but none of them had formal asbestos training, and Washington's first certification course for asbestos removal did not exist until 1984.
Wright kept working for the contractor at refineries around the region until 1988. He died in September 2015, and an autopsy of his lungs showed mesothelioma, the cancer caused by asbestos fibers.
In January 2018, his son, Wayne Wright, sued on his own behalf and as personal representative of his father's estate. The complaint named the refinery owners where Wright had worked (Mobil, Shell, Texaco and U.S. Oil & Refining) and 3M, which made the face mask the crew wore. Shell, Texaco, U.S. Oil and 3M all settled before trial. ExxonMobil, the successor to Mobil Oil, went to trial alone.
The family argued two theories: that Mobil retained control over how its contractor handled the work and failed to use ordinary care, and that it failed to protect Wright as an invitee on its property. The family was represented by Schroeter Goldmark & Bender, whose counsel of record on appeal included Craig Sims, Kaitlin Cherf, Thomas Breen, William Rutzick, Luke Garrett and Colin Mieling. After a trial in late 2019, the jury found Mobil liable on both theories and returned a $4 million verdict. Under Washington's settlement offset statute, RCW 4.22.060, the trial court credited $1.73 million for the other defendants' settlements and entered judgment against ExxonMobil for $2.27 million, plus fees, costs and interest.
ExxonMobil appealed on jury instructions, evidentiary rulings, jury selection and the settlement credit. The Court of Appeals, Division I, affirmed the verdict. It found the retained-control instruction legally flawed but held the premises liability theory independently supported the verdict. It also held the trial court had not reviewed the full settlement agreements, so it vacated the judgment and sent the case back for a new reasonableness hearing on the offsets.
ExxonMobil then asked the Washington Supreme Court to rule that the jury must always be instructed on the 'known or obvious danger' provision of the Restatement (Second) of Torts. On August 3, 2023, the court rejected that argument over a dissent, holding that giving such an instruction is within the trial court's discretion and is not required as a matter of law. The verdict stood.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Wright v. ExxonMobil Oil Company, Washington Supreme Court, No. 100768-0, Aug. 3, 2023·Archived copy
- 2.Wright v. 3M Co. (ExxonMobil Oil Corp.), Washington Court of Appeals Div. I, No. 81289-1-I·Archived copy
- 3.My Bellingham Now, 'Former owner of Whatcom County refinery fined $4 million for asbestos exposure death', Aug. 30, 2023·Archived copy
- 4.Schroeter Goldmark & Bender (firm)·Archived copy
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