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The Cross-Examination That Cost a Chemical Plant Operator $1.6B
The jury found Upton Assets 100% responsible and awarded more than $1.6 billion in damages to the families of two workers killed in the blast.
- A Starr County, Texas jury awarded more than $1.6 billion to the families of two workers killed in an October 7, 2023, explosion at the Pecos Liquids Handling Facility. The verdict against owner Upton Assets, LLC was reached late Friday following a two-week trial.
- Evidence showed Upton Assets bypassed formal bids and hired eight unqualified workers from the Rio Grande Valley without conducting due diligence into their qualifications. Jurors unanimously found the company grossly negligent in the workers' deaths.
- Trial evidence revealed Upton Assets president Thomas Oliver Hanks, Jr. admitted under oath he never read the facility's federal safety standards. The plant manager lacked required Process Safety Management certifications despite handling hazardous chemicals.
- Families of Reinaldo Garcia Pena and Angel Alaffa received compensatory and punitive damages exceeding $1.6 billion. Lead attorney Rob Ammons of The Ammons Law Firm said the verdict rejected the company's attempts to blame other parties.
- This judgment is believed to be the largest workplace wrongful death verdict in U.S. history. Heriberto Montalvo of The Ammons Law Firm said, "Every safety failure that led to the explosion was preventable," reflecting the jury's accountability finding.
19 Articles
19 Articles
Mason City Globe Gazette
MARTINEZ REILLY, PLLC: Texas Jury Returns Landmark $1.6 Billion Total Verdict for Workers Rights against Hazardous Chemicals Facility in Explosion which Killed Two Workers
Texas jury reaches a landmark verdict against the owner of an oil refinery in Pecos, Texas.
The Cross-Examination That Cost a Chemical Plant Operator $1.6B
A Texas jury awarded $1.6 billion to the families of two Rio Grande Valley workers killed in a 2023 explosion at an oil and gas facility whose owner had allegedly ignored virtually every federal safety requirement and then spent years blaming the victims.
PR Newswire
The Huntsville ItemThe Ammons Law Firm: Texas Jury Returns $1.6 Billion Unanimous Verdict Against Owner of Hazardous-Chemicals Facility Where Two Workers Were Killed in Explosion
/PRNewswire/ -- In one of the largest workplace wrongful death verdicts in U.S. history, a Starr County, Texas jury awarded more than $1.6 billion to the...
Upton Assets Slammed with $1.6B Verdict in Deadly Explosion Case
A Starr County jury unanimously awarded $1.6 billion to the families of two men who died in an explosion at a Pecos hazardous-chemicals plant in 2023. The 12-member jury answered the 16-question verdict form late Friday after the two-week trial in Judge Jose Luis Garza’s courtroom. The post Upton Assets Slammed with $1.6B Verdict in Deadly Explosion Case appeared first on The Texas Lawbook.
A jury in Starr County, Texas, awarded more than $1.6 billion to the families of two workers who died in an explosion in 2023 at a natural gas liquid management plant in the west of the state. The case focuses on the death of Reinaldo García Peña, who died alongside another worker after an explosion recorded on October 7, 2023 at a facility located in Pecos, Texas, dedicated to the management of highly flammable materials.
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