On Friday June 1, 2012, a jury sitting in federal court in St. Louis awarded a $180 million verdict to the victims of a 2010 ConAgra grain bin explosion, after finding the company to have been negligent in maintaining the grain bin.
The three ConAgra workers were removing equipment from the concrete grain bin when it exploded, injuring all three workers. John Jentz said he was going down some stairs to retrieve some tools at the bin before what he said he was told would be a routine inspection of the bin when he heard “a loud bang, and then I heard the sucking of the air and then the fire ball hit me.”
A short distance away in a lift inside of the elevator, Robert Schmidt said he heard what sounded like a sledge hammer hitting sheet metal. He said he didn’t think much of it. But then when he heard a second and a third bang, and the sounds were getting closer, he understood he was hearing an explosion. He said he knelt down, “started praying,” and put his jacket over his head as the fireball shot up toward him. “I could feel I was on fire (and) I started patting out the flames.”
John Jentz was burned on 70-75 percent of his body. He was airlifted from the scene and spent months recuperating in the hospital. The two other workers, Robert Schmidt and Justin Becker also received burn injuries from the explosion. Jentz and Schmidt were represented by Robert A. Clifford, Kevin P. Durkin, and Colin H. Dunn of the Clifford Law Offices.
The jury found ConAgra to be negligent in maintaining the grain bin and for failing to heed warnings relating to the dangerous condition of the grain bin. ConAgra was negligent for failing to properly clean cleaned for nearly two decades, and for failing to heed warnings that the bin that the bin could explode at any moment — warnings it did not act upon or even share with the three victims and other workers. Specifically, ConAgra failed to take proper safety cautions when the temperature of the grain started rising and a strange odor was noticed before the April 27, 2010 explosion.
The verdicts included $101 million in punitive damages to be share equally among the victims. John W. Jentz, who suffered burns over 70 to 75 percent of his body, was awarded $75.5 million, including $34.3 million in punitive damages. Justin Becker received $66.9 million and his wife, Amanda Becker, was awarded $237,500. Robert Schmidt, was awarded $36.2 million, including $33.3 million in punitive damages.
Please contact the personal injury lawyers at the Washington, DC law firm of Basyuk & Klaproth if you have suffered injuries as a result of negligent conduct.
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