CRC Industries was recently ordered to fund and pay a settlement reached with plaintiff Kelly Dial earlier this year.
As previously reported, the family of deceased refinery worker Samuel Maida Jr. filed suit against CRC and 13 other corporations on Nov. 12, 2008, in Jefferson County District Court. The family claims Maida's cancer was wrongfully caused by his exposure to carcinogenic chemicals by the defendants.
The suit claims Maida worked for Texaco at its Port Arthur facility for many years beginning in the 1970s and was exposed to the petroleum byproduct trichloroethylene and products that contained benzene and other carcinogens.
On March 25, Judge Donald Floyd, 172nd District Court, ordered that CRC "fund the total settlement funds agreed upon by March 30" or pay an additional $1,000 per day until the settlement amount is paid, court records show.
The parties had reached an undisclosed settlement on Jan. 12.
Dial filed a motion to enforce the settlement on March 21, court records show.
CRC filed a response three days later, arguing that it was working diligently to pay the amount but was having trouble with some of the settlement paper work and needed more time.
In her suit, Dial claims the companies failed to warn workers of the dangers of benzene, which caused Maida to develop a renal cell carcinoma, a form of kidney cancer.
Darren L. Brown of Provost and Umphrey Law Firm in Beaumont represents the plaintiffs.
Dallas attorney Vic Henry represents CRC.
Case No. E182-692