The Pennsylvania Superior Court is set to convene next week in Philadelphia for one of its three February sessions, with an additional session scheduled for later this month.

Over the course of two days, the judges are set to hear oral arguments in more than 40 different matters, including whether or not a $725.5 million jury verdict is legally permissible and whether a trial court had properly used the Fair Share Act in its liability allocations, among other issues.

Gill v. Exxon

One of the first cases of the session, which begins on Tuesday, saw its beginnings following a $725.5 million jury verdict in 2024.

The case, Gill v. Exxon, was sent to the Superior Court by several oil company appellants, including Exxon Mobile, in late 2024 to examine whether the $725.5 million verdict tied to benzene-exposure cancer liability and noneconomic damages is legally permissible under Pennsylvania’s standards for admissible expert evidence and damage awards.

Rob Palumbos of Duane Morris, who filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said that the outcome of the case could impact the future of noneconomic damages awards in the state.

“Exxon has sought a remittitur for the $725 million verdict,” Palumbos said. “That undoubtedly will affect future cases where extremely large verdicts are entered, like they were in this case, and how the Superior Court applies the test to the remittitur to facts like this and in particular, to noneconomic damages awards like this one will be something that practitioners will be looking at in this case.

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