Galveston, Texas – BP PLC announced a settlement Tuesday with four workers who had sued the oil company over injuries in a deadly Texas City refinery explosion, abruptly ending the first civil trial stemming from the blast and leaving the tearful plaintiffs shaken.
The trial over the 2005 accident – which killed 15 people, injured 170 and was the worst accident in the gas and chemical industry in almost 15 years – began Sept. 5. It was the only one of hundreds of lawsuits from the blast to reach the courtroom.
“I’m disappointed that I didn’t get to look them in the eye and tell them what I feel,” said plaintiff David Wilson of Santa Fe, Texas, who suffered back problems, hearing loss and post-traumatic stress disorder from the blast.
Wilson, who worked for a mechanical contracting company, spoke briefly before walking away sobbing. He and his wife, who suffered similar injuries, had filed separate suits.
Details of the settlement were not disclosed, but attorney Brent Coon, who represented the four plaintiffs, said the amount was fair for what they have gone through.
“The reality is that there’s no amount of money that BP could pay that would make these people whole,” he said.
BP declined to comment on specifics of the deal.
“All I can say is we’ve worked since the explosion to settle so people don’t have to go to court,” BP spokesman Neil Chapman said after the deal was announced in court.
Asked what he would say to BP, Scott Kilbert, a 48-year-old instrumentation supervisor for construction company JE Merit, said, “You can’t put it in the paper.”
Kilbert said he also suffered back problems, hearing loss and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The fourth plaintiff, Rolando Bocardo, a 41-year-old instrument fitter from Baytown, wept and said he was too emotional to talk.
The blast erupted at about 1:30 p.m. March 23, 2005, at the 1,200-acre site about 40 miles southeast of Houston. About 1,800 people worked at the plant, which included 30 refinery units, but BP officials don’t know exactly how many were there at the time.
