ClickCease Commercial House Cleaners v. Residential Gas Supply

Commercial House Cleaners v. Residential Gas Supply

In Commercial House Cleaners v. Residential Gas Supply (court and caption confidential), Matthew D. Davis, Spencer J. Pahlke and Valerie N. Rose represented a couple who were cleaning a vacation rental home when leaking gas vapors ignited. Both clients suffered severe full thickness third degree burns in the ensuing explosion. Matt, Spencer and Valerie established that the defendants had violated a number of safety laws relating to supply piping and maintenance, and that these violations were a cause of the gas leak. The Walkup team developed evidence showing that the defendant had a history of violating these same safety laws, that there had been prior home explosions, and that the company had been warned future explosions were likely to occur in the event of continued violations. Matt, Spencer and Valerie argued that this history demonstrated a conscious disregard of the safety of the public justifying an award of punitive damages. The plaintiffs were non-English speaking legal residents who were rendered totally disabled by virtue of the full thickness burns, residual cosmetic disfigurement and functional limitations. The case settled at a judicially mandated settlement conference less than a week before trial for $45,000,000.

 

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