MOUNDSVILLE – A South Carolina couple alleges the husband's exposure to a chemical while employed by two facilities in West Virginia caused him to develop leukemia.

Teddy A. Kemp and Judy L. Kemp filed a complaint in Marshall Circuit Court against Covestro LLC, Axiall Corp. and others over allegations of premises liability, negligence and other counts.

The suit states that the plaintiff, Teddy Kemp, was a member of a chapter of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and worked as a union electrician in a number of locations from 1975 to 2009, including in New Martinsville by Covestro's predecessors and in Natrium by Axiall's predecessors.

The plaintiff alleges he was exposed to benzene during his career both by direct contact and inhalation and as a result, developed chronic lymphocytic leukemia in February 2016.

The plaintiff is seeking all reasonable sums due, attorney fees and court costs. The plaintiff is represented by R. Dean Hartley, Tejinder Singh and Sean X. Xing of Hartley Law Group PLLC in Wheeling.

The case has been assigned to Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Cramer.

Marshall Circuit Court case number 19-C-113