Settlement of Wrongful Death Case Reached For $2.25 Million In Plant Explosion Case

Amy Rothschild

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The mother of a masonry worker who was 24 years old when he was killed in an explosion on October 12, 2005, as he was finishing a wall at Triumph Food Plant, a nearly completed pork processing plant in Missouri., filed a wrongful death lawsuit for the death of her son. The wrongful-death case was settled for $2.25 million. Investigators determined that gas leaking from an uncapped valve fueled the explosion, and resulted in 14 other individuals being injured.

"Plumbing contractor IHP Industrial, of St. Joseph, will pay the largest portion of the settlement, $1.5 million. The other defendants are Triumph Foods, construction management firm Epstein and Sons and Southern Union Co., the parent company of Missouri Gas Energy. They each agreed to pay $250,000. The settlement, which was reached through a moderator about three weeks ago, was entered Friday in court."

Legal actions filed by those that were injured in the explosion and survived have still not been resolved. Those lawsuits allege the same as was alleged by the 24 year old's mother whose case was settled: that the companies were negligent in failing to follow procedural safeguards that could have prevented the explosion.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Wrongful Death.