Oklahoma City-El Dorado Chemical Co. (EDC), a unit of LSB Industries Inc., Oklahoma City, reported on Oct. 16 that it has received a unanimous jury verdict awarding $9.8 million in damages to EDC for the negligence of the defendants, Ingersoll-Rand Co. and DR Holding Corp., as general partners of Dresser Rand Co. (DRC). EDC will pay attorneys fees equal to 30 percent of its net recovery. The case claimed negligent failure by DRC to properly rebuild a hot gas expander for EDC’s DM Weatherly nitric acid plant; the failure caused millions of dollars in equipment damages and lost profits. The outage at one of EDC’s El Dorado, Ark., nitric acid plants occurred in late 2004 and lasted well into mid-2005. The case also claimed DRC’s negligent failure to rebuild a hot gas expander for other nitric acid plants located at EDC. The case was heard in Union County, Arkansas Circuit Court. It was not immediately known if the defendants will appeal. The Dresser-Rand Group Inc., Houston, said last week that it has no exposure or liability for any part of the jury verdict. To date, LSB has also received at least $5.2 million from insurers over the incident (GM Sept. 11, p. 12).
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain