A mesothelioma victim’s personal injury lawsuit has been moved from the local Texas courthouse where it was originally filed to federal court following Chevron Phillips Chemical’s motion for removal. The company successfully asserted that Robert Lynn Patterson, Sr.’s 1960s occupational asbestos exposure happened while working on offshore oil rigs in federal waters.
Mesothelioma Victim Breathed Deadly Asbestos Dust on Gulf Oil Rigs in 1964
Mr. Patterson filed his mesothelioma claim in Harris County, Texas, explaining that his fatal cancer came from exposure to asbestos-laced drilling mud products during his first job out of college. At just 24 years old, he was a brand-new petroleum engineer fresh out of graduate school when he worked for Union Oil Company from August 1964 through May 1965 on drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.
During three days of deposition testimony given in June 2025, the 80-year-old mesothelioma victim recalled having carried heavy sacks of drilling mud to mixing equipment on a Diamond M jack-up rig—an offshore platform with legs anchoring into the seabed about 30 feet below the water surface. He explained that he hadn’t always known exactly what chemicals he was handling, but that he learned that he’d been exposed to Flosal—a drilling mud additive distributed by Chevron Phillips Chemical’s predecessor, Phillips Petroleum Company. The material contained asbestos fibers.
Company Uses Federal Waters Loophole to Move Mesothelioma Case
In response to Mr. Patterson’s mesothelioma claim, Chevron Phillips Chemical filed a motion to move the case to federal court, invoking the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. The company argued that because Patterson worked on oil rigs sitting in federal waters (more than 3.3 miles offshore where state jurisdiction ends), his case could not be heard in the local courthouse where he and his family chose to file. The maneuver forces Patterson and his wife, Rosemary, into a completely different court system. Companies often prefer the federal court system because juries there can be less sympathetic to sick workers than local state court juries.
The company claims the asbestos exposure that caused Patterson’s mesothelioma meets three requirements for moving the case: it happened on federal waters, Patterson’s work helped oil companies drill for oil and gas on federal property, and his cancer wouldn’t have happened without that offshore work. They supported their argument by citing the victim’s own testimony, which confirmed that the drilling permits were issued by the federal Department of the Interior.
If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, it’s essential that you work with professionals who can provide you with guidance based on knowledge and experience. For information on how the Patient Advocates at Mesothelioma.net can help, contact us today at 1-800-692-8608.
