Heating Oil Leak Results In $50,000 Personal Injury Settlement
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A Durham County furnace repair company has agreed to pay $50,000.00 to homeowners for personal injuries suffered when their home was contaminated by a heating oil leak. In addition to the $50,000.00 for personal injuries the defendant agreed to pay the lost market value of the house.
The $50,000.00 component of the settlement was because the homeowners had to smell the fumes.
The difficulty in this case from the claimant’s perspective was proving the harmful effects of bad odors. There was no documented physical impairment stemming from the exposure to the oil. The injury was the aggravation of having to breathe odors on a non-stop basis. The homeowners had the constant stench of fuel oil in their clothes.
North Carolina law imposes strict liability for oil spills. The unusual twist to this case is that it resulted in a substantial settlement for personal injuries resulting from the oil fumes in the home.
The homeowners claimed that approximately 40 gallons of heating oil leaked underneath their home in 1998 when the defendant, while working on their furnace, did not properly reattach a fuel line. The spill occurred just days after the plaintiff put the house up for sale. The plaintiffs’ claimed that because of the spill, the property was not marketable.
The homeowner sued the oil maintenance company for negligence and violation of a North Carolina statute in the North Carolina Oil Pollution and Hazardous Substances Control Act.
Under that provision of the statute any person having control over oil or other hazardous substances which enters the waters of this State in violation of the law shall be strictly liable for damages to persons or property caused by such injury.
The female claimant was particularly affected by the odors because she also suffered from inoperable brain cancer. This condition, along with her age and the fact that she was at home all the time made her particularly vulnerable to the oil smell.