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Darlington business gets $3 million verdict against Exxon Mobil

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Published: November 26, 2008

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A legal team led by Nexsen Pruet’s Marguerite Willis secured a $3 million verdict against Exxon Mobil Corp. on behalf of a Darlington company that claimed the global oil giant had illegally conspired to drive it out of the Mobil lubricants business and had wrongfully terminated its distributorship.

At the conclusion of a nearly four-week trial over which the Circuit Court Judge James E. Lockemy presided, the jury took less than two hours to reach its decision, which came late Friday night and included $2 million in actual damages and $1 million in punitive damages for Bristow Oil Co.

The origins of the case date back to 1984, when Damon Flowers first joined Bristow at the request of his father-in-law, William Bristow. Shortly thereafter, Mobil Oil Corp., now called ExxonMobil, asked Bristow to distribute its lubricants, and Flowers agreed to lead that part of the business.

In spring 2001, ExxonMobil employees came to Darlington to meet with Flowers, who believed they were coming to present him with a newly drafted agreement. Instead, they announced they were terminating Bristow’s distributorship.

The jury agreed that had Bristow known ExxonMobil intended to end its 17-year relationship, Flowers would have had options to save Bristow’s business, which he was denied.
Willis’ team included State Sen. Gerald Malloy and John Nichols of Bluestein, Nichols, Thompson & Delgado LLC.

The case has been ongoing for four years, and Malloy was brought on late to try the case. He said he came on to try to help local businesses.

“The verdict sends a message to those companies that deal with the public,” Malloy said. “They should conduct business with fairness and honesty.”