LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- A federal judge has rejected two motions by Exxon Mobil Corp. in a lawsuit filed following an oil spill from a ruptured pipeline in Mayflower.
U.S. District Judge Brian Miller in Little Rock denied the company's request to dismiss the lawsuit and dismiss certain class-action allegations. Exxon Mobil had argued that some members of the class have no standing in the case.
Miller's rulings filed Thursday say the issues are not "plain enough from the pleadings" to strike the class allegations. He denied the motion to dismiss, saying that an amended complaint by the plaintiffs meets pleading standards.
The company's Pegasus pipeline ruptured on March 29 and spilled thousands of barrels of oil in Mayflower, a community about 25 miles northwest of Little Rock.
