CHARLESTON,
South Carolina – The family of a man who died from severe burns he suffered in
2015 while working at a paper plant in North Charleston has settled the
wrongful death suit filed in his case after jury selection in the United States
District Court in South Carolina.
Terms of
the settlement, filed in U.S. District Court Judge David C. Norton’s court, are
confidential.
Brian
Allen, 43, of Summerville, was on a lift at the plant performing welding work
above several tanks of solution. The tanks should have contained non-flammable
sodium hydrosulfide used in paper manufacturing. However, later analysis by the
plaintiffs’ experts would show one or more of the tanks actually contained
gasoline, which ignited and severely burned Mr. Allen. He suffered for eight
months before succumbing to his injuries.
Mr.
Allen’s family filed suit against the companies that supplied the sodium
hydrosulfide and the companies that transported it. The paper manufacturer was
not a defendant in the case.
“An
intense three-year litigation battle can be very difficult emotionally for a
family which has already experienced a traumatic workplace injury and death,”
said James E. Payne, partner at
Provost Umphrey, who represented Kristie Allen, Mr. Allen’s widow. “This
resolution will allow Kristie and the rest of the family to put the litigation
behind them and try to focus on the positive memories of Brian as best as they
can.”
The case
required the taking of over 40 depositions and the production of over 45,000
pages of documents. There were more than 200 exhibits.
“Kristie
Allen and the Allen family suffered a great loss,” said Provost Umphrey
attorney Matthew Matheny, who also represented
Mrs. Allen. “We are very pleased that the settlement will financially serve
Mrs. Allen and her family for many years to come. After a long and contentious
litigation, a degree of justice has been served.”
“To my
knowledge, this was the largest post-jury selection settlement of a plaintiff’s
wrongful death and survival action in the U.S. District Court for the District
of South Carolina in recent memory. I was honored to serve as lead local
counsel on behalf of the Allen family,” said Motley Rice LLC lawyer Marlon
Kimpson who along with attorney W. Taylor Lacy also represented Mrs.
Allen.