In Re: Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether ("MTBE") Products Liability Litigation
Filing
3630
DECLARATION of Wedeking in Support re: (157 in 1:04-cv-04973-SAS) MOTION for Summary Judgment for Lack of Evidence Pertaining to Causation.. Document filed by Coastal Chem, Inc.. (Attachments: #1 Exhibit #1, #2 Exhibit #2, #3 Exhibit #3, #4 Exhibit #4, #5 Exhibit #5, #6 Exhibit #6, #7 Exhibit #7, #8 Exhibit #8, #9 Exhibit #9)Filed In Associated Cases: 1:00-cv-01898-SAS-DCF, 1:04-cv-04973-SAS(Allen, Brent)
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Exhibit 6
Deposition of Gail Blue
/
March 18, 2011
Page 1
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
-oOo________________________________
In re: Methyl Tertiary Butyl
Ether ("MTBE") Products
Liability Litigation
________________________________
Master File No.
1:00-1898
This Document Relates To:
Case No.
City of Fresno
MDL 1358(SAS)
v. Chevron U.S.A. Inc., et al.,
Case No. 04 Civ. 4973
________________________________
DEPOSITION OF GAIL BLUE
March 18, 2011 at 1:00 (1:09) p.m.
Before: ERIC L. JOHNSON
RPR, CSR #9771
Taken at:
Fresno, California
DEPOBOOK REPORTING SERVICES (800) 830-8885
Deposition of Gail Blue
/
March 18, 2011
Page 11
1
just let me know.
2
A.
I will.
3
Q.
Okay.
Are you under the influence of any
4
drugs, alcohol, or medications that may impact your
5
ability to testify today?
6
A.
No.
7
Q.
Do you have any questions about the deposition
8
process?
9
A.
No.
10
Q.
Okay.
11
Did you review any documents in
preparation of the deposition today?
12
A.
No.
13
Q.
Did you meet with an attorney?
14
A.
No.
15
Q.
Are you represented by an attorney today?
16
A.
No, not that I know of.
17
MR. STEEVES:
I will hand you what's been
18
marked as Exhibit 1.
19
the second page it says Subpoena to Testify and to
20
Produce Documents.
21
identification)
23
25
On
(Deposition Exhibit 1 marked for
22
24
It is a notice of deposition.
MR. STEEVES:
A.
I got?
Q.
Have you seen that before?
Isn't this what you sent me in the first letter
Was this the one you sent me in the first
DEPOBOOK REPORTING SERVICES (800) 830-8885
Deposition of Gail Blue
/
March 18, 2011
Page 12
1
letter?
2
Q.
Yes.
3
A.
I believe so.
4
Q.
Yes.
5
Have you seen -- have you seen the
document?
6
A.
Yes.
7
Q.
If you turn to the third page, there is a page
8
marked Attachments.
I am sorry, one more page.
9
A.
Mm-hmm.
10
Q.
And it lists documents, types of documents that
11
Yes.
we are looking for.
12
A.
Yes.
13
Q.
Did you bring any documents with you today in
14
response to this?
15
A.
No, I don't have any.
16
Q.
Okay.
And is it your understanding that you
17
are here today to talk about the Red Triangle Oil site
18
at 2809 South Chestnut in Fresno?
19
A.
Yes.
20
Q.
Can you tell me the date -- the dates you were
21
22
23
24
25
associated with that site?
A.
Approximately 1980 to first -- January 2002, I
believe.
Q.
And when you were first associated with the
site in 1980, did you have a title?
DEPOBOOK REPORTING SERVICES (800) 830-8885
Deposition of Gail Blue
/
March 18, 2011
Page 13
1
A.
I collected money for Triangle stations.
2
Q.
No formal job title?
3
A.
Not really.
4
Q.
And what did you do after that?
5
A.
I worked in the warehouse for -- I don't know
how long, couple of years.
8
9
Did you change
job duties at any point?
6
7
Not then.
Q.
When you -- when you say the warehouse, was
that on site at --
10
A.
On site.
11
Q.
You said a couple of years?
12
A.
Mm-hmm.
13
Q.
And then after that?
14
A.
Then I went to the office.
15
Q.
And what did you do in the office?
16
A.
Gosh, I can't remember.
17
Just answered phones
and typed and do just office work.
18
19
Mm-hmm.
Q.
And after the office, did you have any other
roles?
20
A.
21
let go.
22
Q.
Approximately what was the date that you became
24
A.
I do not remember.
25
Q.
Do you remember a time frame?
23
Yes.
I was put in as CEO when everybody was
CEO?
The '90s, the
DEPOBOOK REPORTING SERVICES (800) 830-8885
Deposition of Gail Blue
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March 18, 2011
Page 14
1
2
3
4
5
6
'80s?
A.
Oh, gee, I really don't.
I can't tell you that
date.
Q.
And you said when -- when everybody was let go.
What do you mean by that?
A.
When my -- well, the people that were running
7
it was my brother, Joel Hohenshelt, and my ex-husband,
8
Glen Blue.
9
Q.
And who let them go?
10
A.
My father.
11
Q.
What's your father's name?
12
A.
Arnold Hohenshelt.
13
Q.
And were you CEO until 2002 then?
14
A.
Yes, I was.
15
Q.
And what did you do to end your association
16
He's deceased.
with the site in 2002?
17
A.
We sold it to the Shehadeys.
18
Q.
When you say you sold the site, did you sell
19
the -- the dirt or the business?
20
A.
The business.
21
Q.
The business.
22
23
24
25
And in 2002 what did the business consist of?
Was it just -A.
There was propane, diesel, gasoline, truck and
trailers, some service stations, or mini-marts actually.
DEPOBOOK REPORTING SERVICES (800) 830-8885
Deposition of Gail Blue
/
March 18, 2011
Page 15
1
Q.
Were these all in the Fresno area?
2
A.
No.
3
Q.
What other areas did you have locations?
4
A.
Kettleman, Kingsburg.
5
6
outside of the area, I think.
Q.
I think that was it
I can't remember.
So at your time when the Red Oil -- Red
7
Triangle Oil from 1980 to 2002, was the business
8
headquartered at the location at 2809 South Chestnut?
9
A.
Yes.
10
Q.
Okay.
11
A.
I -- I worked for a doctor, Dr. Heckel.
12
Q.
What did you do there?
13
A.
I -- everything.
14
person.
15
care of patients, did EKGs, did a little of everything.
Prior to 1980 what did you do?
Assisted in -- as an office
I also did back office work.
I did -- took
16
Q.
And -- and prior to that?
17
A.
I worked at Community Hospital as a PBX
18
operator.
19
company as a PBX operator.
20
21
Q.
Prior to that I worked for the telephone
And that's it?
That's it.
Do you have a formal education,
a college degree?
22
A.
23
high school.
24
Q.
25
No, I have no college, but I did graduate from
Do you have any specialized training,
professional licenses?
DEPOBOOK REPORTING SERVICES (800) 830-8885
Deposition of Gail Blue
/
March 18, 2011
Page 16
1
A.
No.
2
Q.
Have you ever worked for any other gas or
3
petroleum company other than Red Triangle Oil?
4
A.
No.
5
Q.
Do you recall -- well, strike that.
6
7
When you sold the business in 2002, you sold
the buildings, did you also sell the USTs?
8
A.
Yes, they took everything.
9
Q.
Okay.
10
A.
Yes, it's -- it is something that's put in
Do you know what MTBE is?
11
fuel.
12
not supposed to be really good for you, but at the time
13
that they put it in there there was -- we were mandated
14
to put it in there by the State of California, so -- I
15
mean, we didn't put it in there, the companies did.
16
we bought the fuel from -- from whomever we bought it
17
from.
They say that it is -- at this time I guess it is
18
Q.
Who did you buy the fuel from?
19
A.
Oh, we bought from everybody.
And
We bought from
20
Exxon.
21
know, if we had an Exxon station, we put Exxon fuel in
22
the Exxon stations.
23
unbranded, we could put any fuel into, so we could pull
24
whatever fuel we want, you know, could get at a cheaper
25
price from the refinery.
At that time we were an Exxon dealer so, you
But the stations that were
And so -- and -- and our
DEPOBOOK REPORTING SERVICES (800) 830-8885
Deposition of Gail Blue
/
March 18, 2011
Page 17
1
plant, because we sold to farmers.
So --
2
Q.
And the plant was at 2809 --
3
A.
Yes.
4
Q.
-- South Chestnut Avenue?
5
A.
Yes.
6
Q.
What other facilities were at that site?
7
I
assume that's a bulk plant, correct?
8
A.
It is a bulk plant.
9
Q.
Yeah.
10
A.
And the station out in front there.
11
That
was -- where we sold fuel to vehicles.
12
Q.
And so who did you buy -- which gas or
13
petroleum companies did you buy from at that site,
14
2809 South Chestnut?
15
MS. KLEAVER:
Calls for speculation.
16
MR. STEEVES:
Q.
17
From the -- for the years
that you were present at the site.
18
A.
Gee.
Well, I know we bought from Exxon.
I
19
don't think we ever bought from Chevron, that I am aware
20
of.
21
purchasing agent that did all the buying, Jack Allen,
22
and he's deceased.
I didn't buy -- purchase the fuel, okay?
23
Q.
You say Allen?
24
A.
Jack Allen, A-l-l-e-n.
25
Q.
Thank you.
DEPOBOOK REPORTING SERVICES (800) 830-8885
I had a
Deposition of Gail Blue
/
March 18, 2011
Page 18
1
A.
And I don't know all the people he bought from.
2
We -- you know, we bought from a lot of different
3
sources.
4
was another one.
5
We might have bought some from ARCO.
6
sure.
7
from them.
8
from Chevron.
9
The rest of them here I don't -- I don't really
10
11
12
I think we bought from Tesoro, Exxon.
There
I am not sure about Atlantic or ARCO.
I am not really
BP, I think we bought -- I think we bought some
I am not aware that we ever bought anything
We bought Chevron products but not fuel.
recognize those names, but -Q.
Do you recall any time periods for when you
bought from those companies?
13
A.
No, I don't.
14
Q.
Okay.
15
Do you recall who delivered the gasoline
to the site at 2809 South Chestnut?
16
A.
We had our own truck and trailers.
17
Q.
And do you know where they picked up from?
18
A.
From the plant -- the place in Fresno out
19
there.
20
a pipeline.
21
Q.
You don't recall the name?
22
A.
No.
23
Q.
Do you recall if you had any agreements to buy
24
25
I don't know even the address of it.
But it was
It was a pipeline out not too far from us.
a particular brand of gasoline?
A.
I think the only one we had was Exxon.
DEPOBOOK REPORTING SERVICES (800) 830-8885
But I
Deposition of Gail Blue
/
March 18, 2011
Page 38
1
A.
Oh, I don't think so.
No, I don't believe they
2
did.
3
I wasn't there when they inspected them.
4
sent -- I don't know the name of it, what it would be,
5
but I know one guy's name was Jim.
6
his last name, but that we were in contact a lot with
7
him, with Exxon.
I don't know what they did, to be honest with you.
But they just
I don't even know
Now, this is just Exxon.
8
Q.
9
recall?
10
A.
Mm-hmm.
11
Q.
And this was for the site at 2809 South
12
So Jim worked for Exxon, as far as you can
Chestnut?
13
A.
But that has nothing to do with 2809, no.
14
Q.
No, it doesn't?
15
A.
No.
No, because most of the time, that I know
16
of, I don't know that we put fuel from Exxon in there.
17
I don't know that.
18
but normally we put Exxon in Exxon stations, so --
19
20
Q.
I know we bought fuel from Exxon,
I think you testified that you bought Tesoro
gasoline for your station.
21
A.
Yeah.
22
Q.
Did you buy Tesoro gasoline for the station at
23
24
25
2809?
A.
Probably we did.
I can't tell you that,
either, because I don't know unless I saw the records
DEPOBOOK REPORTING SERVICES (800) 830-8885
Deposition of Gail Blue
/
March 18, 2011
Page 39
1
where it went.
2
have been a truck and trailer load that went to a -- a
3
farmer.
4
Q.
5
6
7
8
9
You know, I really don't know.
It could
Did any gas company ever give you instructions
for responding to spills of gasoline with MTBE?
A.
Not me, personally.
I didn't have -- you know,
I didn't really deal in that part of it, like I said.
Q.
Did you ever see any drips, leaks, or spills of
gasoline during deliveries at the station at 2809?
10
A.
No, I never did.
11
Q.
Is it fair to say that when a customer fills up
Personally, no.
12
their car, a little bit of gasoline will drip from the
13
nozzle?
14
MR. PARSEGHIAN:
15
THE WITNESS:
16
Objection; asked and answered.
I don't know that.
I am not
watching them.
17
MR. STEEVES:
Q.
So are you aware of your
18
practice of cleaning up any spills if they were to
19
occur.
20
A.
The only --
21
MR. PARSEGHIAN:
22
MR. STEEVES:
23
A.
Q.
Objection; lacks foundation.
You can answer the question.
The only thing we ever had to, you know, clean
24
up, we put some stuff down was with diesel.
25
only thing that I ever knew that we had -- that somebody
DEPOBOOK REPORTING SERVICES (800) 830-8885
And the
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