Yes, you may be able to sue Washington Gas Company if you suffered an explosion injury or the wrongful death of a loved one due to the utility’s negligence. Filing an explosion lawsuit can help you and your family seek compensation from the people who wronged you for damages including:
- Medical expenses
- Cost of care
- Physical pain
- Emotional distress
- Permanent disability
- Disfigurement
- Lost income
- Loss of quality of life
- Other damages
If your loved one died due to the negligence of a gas company or gas company worker, your family may be able to sue for wrongful death. Our explosion legal team recently helped bring justice for the family of a woman who died in a gas explosion. Our client died due to the negligence of a gas utility that directed workers to remove a faulty gas meter from an institution’s basement.
Explosions from Failed Washington Gas Equipment
2016 Flower Branch Apartment Explosion in Silver Spring, MD
In August of 2016, a gas leak explosion killed seven and injured more than 30 people at Flower Branch Apartments, a mostly low-income complex in Silver Spring, MD. The NTSB found that failed gas equipment owned by Washington Gas caused the explosion. The agency says that gas likely built up “to an explosive level” in a basement meter room due to a failed mercury gas regulator and disconnected vent line. Eventually, the gas reached an ignition source that sparked the explosion. Washington Gas was responsible for maintaining the regulator and vent. The explosion killed five adults and two children, most of them Spanish-speaking immigrants. Additionally, the blast injured more than 30 people and displaced more than 100 from their homes. Mercury gas regulators, like the one in this explosion, were supposed to have been replaced by Washington Gas years earlier. While seeking a rate increase in 2003, the utility said that all of its 66,793 indoor mercury gas regulators would be replaced by 2013. The Maryland Public Service Commission ordered the utility to explain why it failed to deliver on its plan. Following the utility’s response, requested by October of 2019, the commission will schedule a public hearing.