PPGMR Law Client Lion Oil Wins $72 Million Jury Verdict

Lion Oil Co. won a nearly $72 million jury verdict in the United States District Court in El Dorado, Arkansas today. The dispute related to insurance coverage for business interruption losses of Lion Oil stemming from the rupture of the Exxon Mobil Corp.-owned pipeline running from Louisiana to Longview, Texas.  The pipeline was the primary source of crude oil feedstock for Lion Oil's refinery in El Dorado, Arkansas.  The Western District jury found that the rupture caused Lion Oil's damages.  

Lion Oil Co., a subsidiary of Delek US Holdings, Inc., sued its fourteen insurers in 2013 over essentially identical all-risk policies it bought from each of them, arguing that the policies covered business interruption losses resulting from the ten-month pipeline shutdown.  Lion Oil kept the facility up and running during the shutdown, but was damaged $72 million in lost earnings and expenses for alternative transportation, sale and storage.  

Lion Oil's trial team included PPGMR attorneys Julie Greathouse, Brian Ratcliff, Kim Logue, and Micah Goodwin, and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP attorneys Geoffrey Greeves, Peter Gillon, Vernon Thompson and Vincent Morgan.