|
 |
| Results |
The
recoveries in these cases are not necessarily indicative of
recoveries in similar cases in the future, as each case must
be decided on its own facts and circumstances.
|
| Natural
Gas Explosion settles for $1.5 million dollars |
Walter
H. Emroch and Thomas J. McNally represented a four-year old
girl injured by a natural gas explosion in the City of Richmond,
Virginia. The plaintiff was visiting her grandmother who lived
in the 1900 block of Redd Street. Tymesha and two other small
children were playing near a sewer manhole that was a short
distance from the rear of the plaintiff's grandmother's home.
One of the children with Tymesha dropped a lighted match into
the sewer manhole that resulted in an explosion that literally
blew the manhole cover off of the hole. As a result of the explosion,
Tymesha sustained first-and second-degree burns to her legs
that resulted in hospitalization at the Medical College of Virginia
for nine days. Tymesha underwent split-thickness skin grafts,
which were harvested from her thighs. As a result of the burns,
Tymesha incurred permanent scarring to the burn sites and to
the skin grafts sites. There were no future medical expenses
claimed by the plaintiff. The plaintiff incurred medical bills
totaling $40,487.06.
During discovery, it was learned that in mid-May, the City of
Richmond had received a complaint of a gas leak that was occurring
in the 1900 block of Redd Street. The City immediately responded
and did not find a gas leak there but did find a natural gas
leak approximately fifty (50) yards away in a sewer that ran
underneath an abandoned street formerly called Littlepage Street.
Having determined that there was natural gas leaking into the
sewer system, the City, over the next fifteen (15) days attempted
to identify the source of the natural gas leak. The City found
several leaks in the area and repaired them. However, even after
the initial repairs were done, City officials still were aware
that natural gas continued to leak into the sewer system.
The explosion that
injured the plaintiff occurred approximately seven weeks after
the City terminated its effort to pinpoint the source of the
on-going natural gas leak.
The City's defense was that the explosion was not caused by
a natural gas leak but was from some other source of gas in
the sewer system. Additionally, the City would have argued that
it had taken all reasonable precautions to identify and fix
the gas leak prior to the explosion.
The plaintiff's gas experts testified that the old cast iron
pipes, which had been installed by the City over 60 years prior
to the explosion, were prone, over time, to develop leaks, and
that this leak was foreseeable, particularly in light of the
fact that the City was already on notice that the cast-iron
pipes were leaking gas into the sewer system before the explosion
occurred. The plaintiff's experts also would have testified
that fugitive natural gas is a well- known hazard in the gas
industry and that if it escapes into a sewer system, it is particularly
dangerous when combined with an ignition source, like a lighted
match.
The case settled one month before trial for $1.5 million dollars. |
|
|
|
