Liberty Utilities ‘reckless' in Missouri blast that killed boy, attorney general says
The Missouri Attorney General on Monday filed suit against Liberty Utilities for last month's natural gas explosion in Lexington, Missouri, that killed a 5-year-old boy, sent his sister and father to the hospital with serious burns, destroyed three homes and damaged multiple others.
Attorney General Andrew Bailey claims Liberty Utilities (Midstates Natural Gas) Corp was 'reckless' and violated the Missouri Underground Facility Safety and Damages Prevention Act after failing to properly mark a gas line in early April. That, Bailey said, ultimately caused the explosion.
'Defendant falsely reported to an excavator that it had marked all of its underground gas pipelines,' Bailey wrote in the suit. 'Relying on Defendant's assurance that it did not have a pipe in the area, the excavator drilled into the ground and punctured Defendant's pipe, allowing natural gas to leak into the community.
'Defendant's actions put a residential community at risk, caused an explosion that shook the community of Lexington, Missouri, and grievously harmed an innocent family.'
Bailey wrote that his office was bringing the action to penalize the company for 'its reckless actions' and to insure that it 'takes every reasonable precaution to prevent such horrendous tragedies in the future.'
The lawsuit, filed in Lafayette County Circuit Court, is the third filed in the tragedy, which occurred on April 9.
'This was a preventable tragedy,' Bailey said in a release Monday afternoon. 'These companies must take their responsibilities seriously. The law is clear, the process is simple, and the consequences of failure are catastrophic. We're holding Liberty Utilities accountable to ensure that every utility in Missouri does its due diligence to prevent future disasters.'
The family of Alistair Lamb, who was killed in the explosion, and his father, Jacob Cunningham, and sister, Camillia 'Cami' Lamb, filed a wrongful death suit on April 21. That suit names Liberty Utilities Corp. as a defendant, along with United Fiber LLC, Alfra Communications LLC, and Sellenriek Construction, whose workers were involved in digging to lay fiber optic cable in the hours prior to the explosion.
Earlier this month, a second family, Shayne and Alicia Billings, filed suit in Lafayette County Circuit Court against The Empire District Gas Company, which does business as Liberty Utilities or Liberty, along with United Fiber, Sellenreik Construction and Alfra Communication. The Billings family claims that the companies were negligent in contributing to the gas leak that destroyed their family home near the point of the explosion, at 17th Street and Franklin Avenue.
Bailey's suit comes a week after the National Transportation Safety Board released its preliminary report showing that days before the digging began, Liberty Utilities sent a locator to mark all buried utilities in that area. But the section of the line involved in the explosion 'was not identified or marked during this process,' according to the preliminary report released May 5.
Just after 4 p.m. on April 9, the subcontractor who was among the crew helping install fiber optic cable in the area of Franklin Avenue and 17th Street began drilling into the 'unmarked section of a capped underground gas distribution main,' the report said.
More than three hours later, after neighbors had repeatedly reported smelling gas, the explosion occurred inside Cunningham's rented home along Franklin Avenue near 17th Street.
In a press statement, the Missouri Attorney General noted that the Missouri Underground Facility Safety and Damage Prevention Act requires utility companies to respond to 'locate' requests and mark the location of underground facilities within two working days.
'Liberty Utilities not only failed to do so, but also falsely reported that the site was marked,' the Attorney General's Office said.
Since the day of the explosion, neighbors surrounding the area, which is part of the town's antebellum historic district, have been angry. The odor of natural gas had been wafting through the neighborhood for hours on April 9.
Neighbors have repeatedly complained that no authorities — either police, fire department or utilities — warned them of possible dangers or suggested they evacuate.
Yet the NTSB's preliminary report said Liberty Utilities directed that a business about 15 feet from the leak be evacuated before the explosion.
Cunningham's family has said that he and his children returned to their home adjacent to the gas leak in the early evening. The explosion reportedly occurred when Cunningham turned on a light switch to his home. The explosion could be heard for miles, and shattered windows in more than a dozen surrounding homes. Flames and black smoke shot into the air.
'Tragedies like this are exactly why this law exists,' Bailey said in the statement. 'It's imperative that companies follow the law — not just to avoid penalties, but to protect lives. When they fail to do so, my office will hold them accountable.'
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