Shell must pay $63 million in damages to Atwater, jury says

FRESNO, Calif. -- The city of Atwater won its lawsuit against the Shell Oil Company.

A Merced jury ruled that the company must pay $63 million in total damages to the city.

The case claimed Shell marketed a chemical that contaminated Atwater's water supply for decades without disclosing what was in it.

In 2018, the State of California adopted a maximum containment level of 5-parts-per-trillion in public drinking water systems.

When the city learned more than the legal level was in its water system, they immediately took legal action against the oil company.