Mobil Oil Is Acquitted in Fatal Refinery Blast

Mobil Oil Corp. and two former managers at its Torrance refinery have been acquitted of misdemeanor criminal charges for labor code violations stemming from a fatal 1988 explosion at the facility.

The decision by South Bay Municipal Court Judge Josh Fredricks to clear Mobil and former executives Tom Gregory and Wyman Robb ends the two-year legal battle over who should bear criminal responsibility for the July 15, 1988, blast, which killed one contract worker and seriously injured two others.

The contract company involved in the explosion, Benecia-based Cal Cat Chemical Co., and its president, Paul Taylor, pleaded no contest in July just as their three-week criminal trial drew to a close. Taylor and the company were ordered to pay fines totaling $41,250 for failing to educate their workers about the proper use of chemicals.

Cal Cat employee Winston Jones, 30, died instantly when the tank he was trying to clean exploded as he stood on top of it. One of his co-workers, David Moustafi, suffered burns over three-quarters of his body. Another co-worker, Jerry Lekberg, lost hearing in one ear.

During a trial earlier this year, Fredricks dismissed two Cal Cat supervisors from the case in June, ruling that the state labor codes under which the misdemeanor charges had been filed apply only to employers, not supervising employees.

Mobil and its two executives had been dismissed from the case in 1989 by another South Bay Municipal Court judge, who ruled that the company and its managers were not responsible for the explosion because they did not directly employ the workers involved.

Prosecutors appealed that ruling. In October, an appellate panel ordered the Mobil defendants to stand trial.

Because Fredricks had supervised the earlier trial of the Cal Cat defendants, attorneys in the case decided not to stage another jury trial. Instead, they asked Fredricks to review the record of the earlier proceeding and render a verdict himself.

On Dec. 19, Fredricks issued his not guilty verdict.

Fredricks “found he had a reasonable doubt about whether Mobil or its employees had control of the details of the work that was taking place,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Fred Macksoud said. “It was our position that (the criminal charges) covered every employer having direction, management, custody or control of the workplace. . . . Needless to say, we were disappointed with the court’s ruling.”

Attorney Max Gillam, who represented Mobil Oil, said he was not surprised by the verdict.

“There was just no evidence that anybody from Mobil exercised the degree of control that would be required to put Mobil in the employer position,” Gillam said. “We were not the employer. . . . Cal Cat Chemical, the independent contractor, was.”

Macksoud said the decision may help bolster efforts by the Los Angeles district attorney’s office to persuade state legislators to revise the labor code so companies that hire contractors would be responsible for providing a safe workplace.

A similar effort three years ago failed, he said.

“We have to hit the road again to try to get new legislation passed,” he said. “This may help us get the remedial legislation . . . so perhaps this wasn’t a total loss.”