Article

Posttraumatic success

After a two-week trial in January, a Tennessee jury returned a verdict favoring the owner of a propane storage facility that exploded several years ago.

Eugene LaFlamme and the author of this column represented Dixie Gas Co. in this case, titled Roach v. Dixie Gas, et al, in which the final demand to the jury was almost $6.5 million.

Several years ago, a gas leak at Dixie Gas ignited and ended up destroying the entire facility. There were seven 6,000-gallon storage tanks on site containing more than 10,000 gallons of propane, which ultimately had to be burned off over several days. There were also a couple of thousand 20-pound cylinders on site that were part of a cylinder exchange program. The explosion and subsequent fire required part of the local town to be evacuated for a period of time.

Shortly before the explosion, the plaintiffs were on the storage-facility site with their 38-foot RV to fill some propane cylinders for an upcoming camping trip. While they were on the Dixie Gas property, they became aware of a leak from one of the service lines to one of the bulk tanks and reported this to the customer service representative in the plant office.

There were several views from witnesses about what actually happened at this point. The Roaches testified that they were engulfed in a large gas cloud and scurried to get off the storage-facility property before the explosion, but were unsuccessful. They testified that, as the explosion occurred, they were just exiting the front gate of the property and were blown to the ground. They huddled in a nearby ditch, and a short while later exited the area.

They claim to have suffered a list of injuries from this event. This includes hearing loss, ringing in the ears, vertigo, depression, loss of balance, loss of memory and concentration, incontinence, nightmares and loss of appetite. Mr. Roach presented with a “baby talk” in which he would not pronounce conjunctions such as “and,” “in” and “with.” He also walked with a cane that had a four-pronged base.

We produced eyewitnesses who worked for Dixie Gas and, most importantly, those who were independent of any party. They reported that there was no one on the Dixie Gas property at the time of the explosion. This included the local fire chief, responding fire department personnel and a neighbor who testified via videotape deposition that the Roaches were on his property across the street and had escaped over a hill at least five minutes before the first explosion.

Both parties produced a slew of doctors and economists to prove their side of the case. Of particular note was one called by the defense who conducted an MMPI test on Mr. Roach. One element of this test is known as the Fake Bad Scale or FBS test. It tests the test takers’ efforts to embellish their claims of emotional distresses. The test revealed a very high level of exaggeration by Mr. Roach with regard to the injuries he reported.

A takeaway from this experience is that posttraumatic stress disorder claims are difficult and expensive to defend. Nonetheless, if you stick to your guns when you think you are right and you have the right legal team of experts and witnesses on your side, a jury can and will listen and return a just result.