A request by defendants in the West Fertilizer case to move the next trial to another county has been denied by the presiding judge. The upcoming trial, currently set for May 16, is the third scheduled in the case. Out-of-court settlements were reached in the first West trial last October (GM Oct. 19, 2015), and again in the second trial in late January 2016.
On March 1, 170th State District Judge Jim Meyer declined a motion to transfer the May 16 trial to a location other than McClennan County, where the City of West and the former West Fertilizer Co. are located. The request was made at a Tuesday hearing by defendants CF Industries Holdings Inc. and El Dorado Chemical Co.
According to the Waco Tribune-Herald, defense attorneys argued that local media coverage of the April 2013 West Fertilizer explosion and “intense feelings” generated by the case had made it difficult to select an impartial jury in McLennan County. Plaintiffs’ attorneys successfully countered that at least 43 potential jurors in the county had indicated no opinion or personal feelings about the case in a questionnaire.
Meyer recently pushed the third trial date back from March 21 to May 16 while negotiations continue between the parties. The final list of plaintiffs for the third trial is still under consideration, but reportedly includes the wrongful death claims of three West Volunteer Fire Department members killed in the blast, the West Rest Haven nursing home, and a number of West residents claiming personal injury and property damage.
The total list of plaintiffs in the complex litigation originally numbered about 200. Defendants include West Fertilizer owner Adair Grain Inc. and several fertilizer companies that either manufactured or sold ammonium nitrate to West Fertilizer in the months prior to the explosion, including CF Industries Holdings Inc. and related CF companies, International Chemical Co. (Inter-Chem), and LSB Industries Inc. and its subsidiaries El Dorado Chemical Co. and Thermaclime Inc.
The first lawsuits were filed within days of the blast against Adair Grain (GM April 29, 2013), but plaintiffs’ attorneys began casting a wider net when it was revealed that Adair carried just $1 million in liability insurance coverage. CF was first named as a defendant in June 2013 (GM July 1, 2013) in a lawsuit filed by the City of West. Inter-Chem was added as a co-defendant in January 2014 (GM Jan. 27, 2014), and LSB, El Dorado, and Thermaclime were added in February 2014 (GM Feb. 17, 2014).
Adair Grain has since filed a countersuit against the fertilizer companies (GM May 19, 2014), and CF, El Dorado, and Inter-Chem have filed court motions (GM Aug. 4, 2014) naming the City of West, Adair Grain, and others as “responsible third parties.”
In December 2015, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported that defense attorneys had asked Judge Meyer to include Adair as a plaintiff in either the second or third trial groups, but plaintiffs’ attorneys argued that doing so would be confusing and unfair to the other plaintiffs still awaiting their day in court. Meyer reportedly denied the defense motion, but instructed plaintiffs to include Adair in the fourth trial, which currently has no date set.
The first trial, which was settled in October for an undisclosed amount, included the families of three first-responders killed in the blast. Plaintiffs in the second trial, which was scheduled for Feb. 1 but canceled on Jan. 28 after the parties reached undisclosed or partial settlements, included the wrongful death claims of two volunteer firefighters and a number of West residents who filed personal injury and property damage claims, as well as subrogation claims filed by insurance companies to recoup claims they have already paid.
The Waco Tribune-Herald reported that at a settlement conference in November 2015, defense lawyers stressed that any resolutions reached in the case involved no admission of liability on the parts of defendants.