The Louisiana Supreme Court today allowed an almost 2 Million dollar judgment in the matter of Christiana Torrejon vs. Mobil Oil Company to stand. Mr. Torrejon, a merchant seaman, died in 1994 of Mesothelioma, a disease that Mobil stipulated was caused by his inhalation of asbestos. Torrejon claimed while he worked aboard Mobil ships he was exposed to asbestos which caused his Mesothelioma. The Torrejon’s were represented at trial by Scott Bickford, Chris Sherwood and Tiffany Chase.

January 26, 2005

Plaquemines Parish President Benny Rousselle announced today that the Parish has reached a 31.5 million dollar settlement with oil and gas producers in a dispute over royalties and Environmental claims. As part of the Settlement, one producer, ChevronTexaco, has agreed to accelerate its clean-up of Parish marshlands.

In January 2001, Rousselle and the Plaquemines Parish Council retained Scott Bickford, Martzell and Bickford of New Orleans, and David Landry of Thibodaux to work in conjunction with special Parish attorney L.V. Cooley, IV to investigate claims that oil and gas producers had allegedly underpaid royalties and allegedly damaged the fragile marsh and swamp lands of the Parish.

Shortly thereafter, the Parish filed a series of actions against various oil and gas producers.

In December 2004, the Parish settled its underpayment of royalty claim with ConocoPhillips for $3 million dollars.

This week, Mr. Rousselle announced that the Parish had reached a $28.5 million dollar agreement with ChevronTexaco in settlement of claims for underpayment of Royalties and environmental damage. As part of the settlement, ChevronTexaco agreed to step up clean up of the sensitive Venice Dome field, an oil and gas field located just west of Venice, Louisiana.

For further information, please contact:

Scott Bickford
Martezll & Bickford
338 Lafayette Street
New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 581-9065