The New Mexico Supreme Court has overturned a lower court ruling in a lawsuit filed by residents against Shell Oil Co. several years ago. The high court says the lower court was wrong to prevent residents of a southeastern New Mexico neighborhood from introducing scientific evidence and expert testimony in their case. The residents filed suit claiming the storage tanks operated by Shell Oil from 1946 until 1993 resulted in contamination and health problems in the Westgate housing subdivision in Hobbs, a city located in far southeast New Mexico right next to the state line.
The ruling came nearly ten years after residents had been told their case was dead. A jury had ruled in 2007 in favor of Shell Oil because certain evidence was excluded in the trial.
“I’m so excited and I believe it’s the right thing to do, because I cannot believe that I have had so many problems,” said Ernestina Dominguez in an interview with KRQE News 13. She and others who filed the suit complained of serious health problems such as lupus, high blood pressure, migraine headaches and seizures.
The Supreme Court ordered the case returned to a district court.
The suit was filed by nearly 200 residents after Shell abandoned the storage tank operation and buried an unlined storage pit for oilfield wastes. A housing development was created years later over the site.
