Defense Verdict For Contractor At Arkansas Chicken Plant Affirmed By Eighth Circuit
Posted on Sep 8, 2014
While renovating an Arkansas chicken plant, the worker for a mechanical and plumbing contractor accidentally dropped a pipe saddle on the employee of a different contractor while performing overhead work on the plant’s thermal piping used to carry hot cooking oil to cooking equipment. Because the location of an oven prevented a scissor lift from being situated directly beneath the pipe saddle that was dropped, the mechanical and plumbing contractor was working outside the lift platform and guardrails of the scissor lift, which allowed the pipe saddle to fall down to the plant’s floor. The...
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Louisiana Federal Court Allows Most Claims Alleging Exposure To Radioactive Oilfield Waste Materials To Continue
Posted on Sep 7, 2014
Following alleged occupational exposure to radioactive oilfield waste materials, a group of plaintiffs (including workers and their surviving spouses and children) sued a number of oil companies and their contractors alleging negligence, strict liability, intentional tort, and a claim for punitive damages. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana allowed most of those claims to proceed after adjudicating a plethora of motions to dismiss. For example, the defendants argued that the strict liability claims should be dismissed because the alleged radioactive contamination...
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Non-Stormwater Discharges Of Coal Into Alaska Bay Not Shielded From Clean Water Act Liability
Posted on Sep 6, 2014
The Ninth Circuit held that a Multi-Sector General Permit for Stormwater Discharges Associated with Industrial Activity (a general permit issued under EPA’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (“NPDES”)) does not shield non-stormwater discharges of coal from Clean Water Act liability. The court reversed the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska’s decision finding that the general permit allowed the non-stormwater discharges of coal. An NPDES permit is required for stormwater discharges associated with industrial activity. This case dealt with a facility where coal is...
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Fire Hose Manufacturer Obtains Summary Judgment On Design Defect Claims Following Fatality
Posted on Sep 5, 2014
The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted summary judgment to the manufacturer of a fire truck on claims that the truck was defective because it was not equipped with a net restraint that could have prevented the escape of a hose from the bed of the truck. The hose had come loose while the truck was moving and the hose’s nozzle struck and killed a pedestrian crossing the street. The court agreed with the manufacturer’s argument that without the aid of expert testimony (the plaintiff offered none), a jury could not assess whether the hose-storage design of the truck...
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California Public Utilities Commission Imposes Record $1.4 Billion Penalty Against Utility Following September 2010 Pipeline Explosion
Posted on Sep 3, 2014
Yesterday, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued four decisions by two Administrative Law Judges in connection with CPUC investigations of a utility’s gas transmission operations and practices, including pipeline recordkeeping, pipeline classification, and the September 2010 pipeline explosion that killed 8 people, injured 58 others, and damaged or destroyed more than 100 homes. Collectively, the decisions result in the largest safety-related penalty ever issued by the CPUC, dwarfing the previous high of $38 million following a natural gas explosion in 2008. ...
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Directional Driller’s Employee’s Claims Against Lease Owner And Drilling Contractor Defeated On Summary Judgment
Posted on Sep 3, 2014
The Texas owner of a North Dakota oil and gas lease contracted with a drilling company to provide a drilling rig and drilling services (the “drilling contractor”), and also contracted with another company to perform directional drilling services (the “directional driller”). In September 2012, wind blew a tear in a plastic liner covering the ground surface at the well site, which injured an employee of the directional driller, who filed suit against the lease owner and the drilling contractor alleging negligence and gross negligence for the failure to maintain a safe workplace. After...
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Pennsylvania Court Reverses $2.5 Million Jury Verdict Against Utility For Painter’s Injuries From Fall
Posted on Sep 3, 2014
Last week, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania reversed a jury verdict against a utility of nearly $2.5 million for injuries a painting contractor’s employee sustained when he fell 40 feet while painting an electric transmission pole. The painting contractor had provided the worker with a pole belt, a body harness, and two lanyards, but the worker was using only the pole belt and one lanyard at the time of the incident. The jury had found for the worker and returned a verdict of $4,613,150, but determined that the utility was 51% at fault and that the worker was 49% at fault, thus the...
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