Baton Rouge, Louisiana trial attorneys, Randy Piedrahita and Kirk Guidry, of the Louisiana personal injury law firm, Dué, Guidry, Piedrahita and Andrews, obtained a jury verdict in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, in excess of $15,000,000. Multiple members of the same family were burned when their house exploded due to fugitive natural gas that was negligently released into their rent house. The gas utility, CenterPoint Energy, had turned off their natural gas at the meter due to non-payment of their gas bill. After several weeks, a family member broke the plastic lock placed on the meter by CenterPoint with a household wrench, forgetting that he had left an open gas line in the house after removing a gas appliance. Plaintiff Attorney Randy Piedrahita presented evidence to the jury that the plastic lock did not meet industry standards and that a metal lock, as used by many competitors, should have been in place to prevent consumers from turning on their own gas, so as to prevent foreseeable explosions. CenterPoint alleged that in addition to the plastic lock, that it installed a metal blind plate inside the meter to prevent the flow of gas, and that the blind plate must have been removed by the consumer. After deliberating for several hours, the St. Landry Parish jury disagreed, finding CenterPoint Energy 50% at fault for the accident and resulting burn injuries.
If you or a loved one sustained serious burn injuries during an accident, contact the experienced Baton Rouge, Louisiana burn injury lawyers at Dué Guidry Andrews Courrege to schedule a FREE CONSULTATION.
