California Jury Returns $63M Verdict After Finding Chevron Covered up Toxic Pit Before Selling Land

A California jury has returned a $63 million verdict against Chevron after finding the oil giant covered up a toxic chemical pit and then sold the land to a man who built a house on it and was later diagnosed with a blood cancer.

Kevin Wright, who has multiple myeloma, unknowingly built his home directly over the chemical pit near Santa Barbara in 1985, according to his lawsuit.

Starting in 1974, Chevron subsidiary Union Oil had used the land as a sump pit for oil and gas production, a process that left the carcinogenic chemical benzene in the ground, court papers said.