Case Description
Against all odds, Arnold & Itkin secured a $141 million verdict against five defendants for a plant explosion that took three lives and injured many more. The defendants refused to take responsibility, stretching out litigation for seven years while offering a pittance to settle.
Attorney Kyle Findley secured the nine-figure verdict for nine plaintiffs who survived a fatal explosion at a paper and containerboard plant in Deridder, Louisiana. Our clients were among over a dozen workers who were grievously harmed or killed due to the negligence and poor management of the five defendants, including a defendant who oversaw an accident eerily similar to this one in 2008.
In 2017, our clients were working at the paper mill during a shutdown, which allowed contractors to do much-needed maintenance and repair work. This procedure included “hot work,” or work involving high-heat tools such as grinders, welders, and cutters. The hot work was conducted near two storage tanks that management knew emitted flammable gases; however, they ordered employees to continue working nearby regardless of the risk. As a result, the storage tanks exploded, robbing three workers of their lives and injuring several more.
This incident would never have happened under more cautious and competent management. The defendants’ failures are especially egregious considering an incident almost exactly like this one happened at a defendant’s plant in Wisconsin in 2008. It was clear that they didn’t learn their lesson then, so we needed to make the lesson loud and clear with our case.
These defendants offered our clients an extremely small amount to settle prior to trial and only raised their offer slightly after closing arguments. This was an enormous miscalculation on their part—the jury ended up awarding our clients more than 10 times what the defendants offered to settle. Our firm is enormously proud of our result, and we’re thrilled our clients can now live their lives in peace and security.