Brockovich Files Third Lawsuit in Cancer Case

The law firm Erin Brockovich works for filed a third lawsuit Friday against Beverly Hills, its school district and several oil and gas companies, claiming area residents developed cancer from toxic fumes emitted by a campus oil derrick.

The Superior Court suit filed on behalf of nearly 300 residents alleges that benzene and other substances from an oil derrick on the campus of Beverly Hills High School led to high rates of cancer among former students and others.

A number of the plaintiffs do not have cancer but are at greater risk of developing the disease because of the well, according to the suit filed by Brockovich and attorney Ed Masry.

Calls to the Beverly Hills’ city attorney and Masry’s firm were not immediately returned Friday.

The first lawsuit, filed in June, makes similar allegations involving 21 former students who attended the school between 1977 and 1996. It named 25 oil and gas companies, including Chevron-Texaco Corp. and the derrick’s current operator, Venoco Inc. The second action was filed in August and alleges that more than 400 people developed various forms of cancer.

City officials have disputed the allegations, saying the cancers listed by Brockovich and Masry are not caused by petroleum or petroleum products.

Brockovich, an investigator with Masry’s law firm, rose to prominence when she put together a landmark 1996 water pollution case that won the residents of Hinkley, Calif., a $333-million settlement from Pacific Gas and Electric Co. The story of that case was told in the movie “Erin Brockovich.”