Greenberg Glusker’s Robert Chapman Secures $105M Damage Award in Exxon Groundwater Contamination Trial

Acclaimed Veteran Litigator Obtains Victory in Major Public Water Supply Environmental Claim

Greenberg Glusker announced that Firm Partner Robert S. Chapman served as one of two lead trial counsel on the New York City trial team that obtained a $104.7 million compensatory damage award against Exxon Mobil Corporation. The federal jury found the oil company responsible for poisoning the City’s groundwater and drinking water supply with the gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE).

The case, brought by the City of New York, was the first MTBE litigation in the country to go to trial and result in a verdict. According to the financial news agency Bloomberg, the City of New York’s verdict is the 13th largest jury verdict in the nation in 2009.