$108 Million Awarded in Death of Chemical Worker

GALVESTON, Tex. — The family of a Monsanto Co. worker who died of leukemia caused by exposure to benzene at the company’s Chocolate Bayou chemical plant was awarded $108 million Friday by a jury.

The U.S. District Court jury deliberated two days before returning the judgment in a case filed by the wife and six children of Wilbur Jack Skeen of Alvin, a Monsanto employee who died in November, 1980, at age 53.