On Friday, March 29, 2013, ExxonMobil’s Pegasus pipeline, which transported heavy tar sands crude oil from Canada throughout the United States, failed in the middle of a residential subdivision in Mayflower, Arkansas, resulting in the release of thousands of barrels of heavy crude into the subdivision’s streets, residents’ yards, storm sewers, and Lake Conway, a 6,700 acre lake connected to several creeks and used for recreational fishing. The rupture led to the evacuation and permanent displacement of many residents, the presence of toxic petroleum fumes in and around Mayflower for many weeks, and a year long clean-up which transformed much of Mayflower into an industrial work zone.
Davis & Whitlock, along with a local Arkansas law firm Mickel & Chapman, filed suit on behalf of the Mayflower residents in April 2013. After two years of intensive litigation in a case that captured national attention, a settlement was achieved on terms that were satisfactory to the Plaintiffs and held ExxonMobil accountable for the Pegasus Pipeline Disaster.