Negligence Limitations Period Not Triggered By Date of Explosion in Arkansas Nitric Acid Case
Posted on Feb 27, 2016
Following a 2012 explosion at a nitric acid plant in Arkansas, the owner of the plant brought suit against two subcontractors alleging that their negligence caused the explosion. The subcontractors had performed their work in 2011. Specifically, the owner alleged that the subcontractors “(1) failed to properly and thoroughly clean the interior of replacement oxygen piping segments installed in 2011 at [the] on-site oxygen plant; (2) failed to properly inspect the interior of these piping segments before placing them in service; (3) failed to exercise due care and caution in the...
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Tenth Circuit Affirms Decision Excluding Experts in Ladder Case for Failure To Test Theories
Posted on Feb 26, 2016
Yesterday, the Tenth Circuit affirmed a district court’s grant of summary judgment to the owner of a waste systems facility in a case brought by a worker injured when he fell from a ladder while delivering fuel to the facility. The district court had excluded the testimony of both of the worker’s expert witnesses, and then granted summary judgment for the facility owner given the absence of any causation testimony once the experts were excluded. The experts had opined that the fuel-tank ladder was a “dangerous climbing structure that does not meet safety guidelines,”...
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Limits of General Personal Jurisdiction Taken Up By Second Circuit
Posted on Feb 19, 2016
Yesterday, the Second Circuit affirmed the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut’s decision finding that Connecticut courts could not exercise general jurisdiction over a Maryland aerospace company. The case was brought in Connecticut by a deceased worker’s daughter seeking to recover in tort for injuries related to asbestos exposure in locations outside Connecticut (the plaintiff was not trying to obtain specific personal jurisdiction over the company based on the company’s specific activities within the state). The daughter (and her deceased father)...
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Mining Law Violation Not a Basis for Negligence Per Se for All Injuries Occurring at Mining Facility
Posted on Feb 17, 2016
At a Kentucky coal mine, a worker for a subcontractor was killed during the installation of a garage door. His wife brought a wrongful death action against the mining company who had hired a construct a post frame building at the facility, and that contractor hired the decedent’s employer to install an overhead commercial-grade garage door. Four theories of negligence were asserted: (1) common law duty to provide a safe workplace and safe equipment, (2) negligence per se for violating mine safety statutes and regulations, (3) voluntary assumption of duty based on the mining...
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New Construction Rules Focused on Process Safety Announced By New York City Mayor
Posted on Feb 14, 2016
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the City would more than quadruple penalties for construction-safety violations in the wake of a crane collapse earlier this month that killed a pedestrian. The Department of Buildings will enforce the measures, which increase penalties for individual serious safety violations from $2,400 to $10,000. The new regulations take effect this summer. The Mayor stated that the focus of newly hired enforcement officers will be targeting any instances of companies sacrificing safety for higher profits. This furthers the recent trend across many...
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Refinery To Be Designated as Potentially Responsible Third Party in Wrongful Death Action
Posted on Feb 11, 2016
After two workers were killed in a 2012 Texas refinery explosion while attempting to restart a boiler, their estates filed suit against the workers’ employer (Defendant A), which was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Defendant B, which in turn was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Defendant C. Approximately 20 months after filing suit, and 55 days before trial, the plaintiffs filed a notice of nonsuit of Defendant A (essentially dismissing Defendant A from the case). Shortly thereafter, Defendants B and C filed a motion for leave to designate Defendant A as a responsible third party, but...
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Tenth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Pollution Case Against Energy Companies
Posted on Feb 10, 2016
The Tenth Circuit upheld a district court’s order dismissing a group of Oklahoma plaintiffs’ claims for strict liability, negligence, and negligence per se against several companies allegedly responsible for pollution stemming from the generation and disposal of coal-combustion waste and fluid waste from oil and gas drilling. The plaintiffs alleged that “the transport, storage and disposal of waste materials from a coal-burning power plant and oil and gas drilling operations had resulted in millions of tons of waste material being transported and deposited in a huge pile...
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