‘Insulting’: AES sent victims’ family $50 gift card, T-shirt in wake of deadly TN explosion, attorney says
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Attorneys for the families of two victims in last year’s deadly munitions plant explosion are condemning Accurate Energetic Systems’ “reckless” behavior before the tragedy and the company’s “insulting” response.
In a Thursday press conference, the legal team representing the families of victims Steven Wright and Reyna Gillahan said Accurate Energetic Systems rejected their $150 million pre-litigation demand. Their rejection came 45 minutes before the attorney’s deadline of Monday afternoon.
“We got an announcement of their defense, which their position is that workers’ compensation in Tennessee is the exclusive remedy for any injury in the workplace,” said attorney Darren Richie.
He said that the $150 million demand on a tight deadline may have seemed “outrageous,” but that was intentional.
“I wanted AES to tell me I was being outrageous. So I could turn around to them and tell them, no, your conduct and behavior, AES, is outrageous,” he said.
The press conference offered new insights into AES’s communication with families in the wake of the deadly explosion and how the victims’ loved ones grieve.
WSMV4 has reached out to AES representatives for comment on these accusations.
AES offers victims’ families ‘insulting’ gift card, shirt
So far, AES has done three things for the victims of the people killed after thousands of pounds of explosives detonated at their Hickman County plant: hosted a barbecue food truck event and sent them a $50 Walmart gift card and a T-shirt with a picture of their deceased loved one, according to Richie.
“Needless to say, that’s insulting,” he said on Thursday.
The lawyer also expressed shock that AES has declined to give families the contact information for their insurance.
“That is a professional courtesy that gets exchanged all the time to facilitate resolution of claims. But they denied it. That shows us how they really feel about their employees,” he said.
He said the team plans to file a lawsuit to demand more from AES.
“And besides saying, oh, I’m sorry, providing some barbecue, gift card, and a t-shirt, they’re acting as if nothing happened. And they’re acting as if they don’t bear any responsibility,” he said. “Well, there’s more than a hundred ways that they bear responsibility here. I want them to step up and take responsibility.”
Attorneys call ‘scathing’ TOSHA report a ‘roadmap’ for litigation
Attorneys said a “scathing” report from the Tennessee Division of Occupational Safety and Health (TOSHA), which cited AES for nearly 100 safety violations and proposed more than $3 million in fines, has become a “roadmap” for their plans to bring their complaints to court.
“That opened the doors on everything,” Richie said.
He acknowledged that there are some
The explosion is believed to have started in kettles at the AES facility, and the families’ legal teams said the kettle “makers, manufacturers, perhaps a distributor” are on their list of “potential defendants.”
The legal team plans to file their lawsuit “no later than Friday of next week,” but they’re currently “trying to perfect it.” Richie said they’re on their fifth version of the document.
“I want to make sure that we are bulletproof on these exceptions because this litigation is going to be historical with regard to exceptions and getting around tort reform,” he said.
State and federal government may also be responsible for explosion, attorney says
They are also considering pushing for accountability from state and federal regulators.
“TOSHA is another, obviously, a regulatory entity that we believe does bear some responsibility here,” he said.
Richie said that it looks like TOSHA inspectors only visited the Hickman County site once in 20 years, which was reportedly back in 2019.
They may also seek accountability from the U.S. Department of Defense’s decision to use AES as a contractor “despite knowing what they knew about what was going on in that facility.”
He alleged that greed fueled the company’s decision to put its workers in danger.
“I believe these folks knew exactly what they were doing and they were fine sacrificing their employees’ lives for that $120 million contract.”
Darren Richie, attorney
The legal team said that the government is “immune” from lawsuits, but that isn’t stopping the lawyers from looking for a path toward accountability.
“That may forbid us from pursuing them, but we don’t have discovery yet. So we don’t know, for example, if they’re an additional insured on the policies of AES. We don’t know, for example, what the vetting process was,” Richie said. “Does some person in the government know some person who knows the owners of AES? How did this company get that contract?”
Richie said he didn’t understand how AES could secure a $120 million contract with the government after previously only working on smaller government jobs for $30 to $40 million.
“To give somebody a $120 million contract who’s had these types of issues in the past, it’s completely reckless,” he said. “So I don’t believe a proper vetting job was done. All of that is to be seen through discovery.”
He also alleged that the company is still working to fulfill that contract.
“My response and message to them is, why are you treating this as something that is under the bridge, under the water, and just carrying on as business as usual?” Richie said. “These folks are operating right now at the site. They are continuing to try to fulfill their $120 million contract.”
‘Egregious’: Attorneys describe ‘very irresponsible’ working conditions
Workers at the Middle Tennessee munitions plants were handling volatile explosives with their bare hands, attorneys alleged on Thursday morning, while outlining what they called “egregious” missteps by management at AES.
“It doesn’t make any sense to me,” Richie said Thursday. “Every aspect of this is egregious.”
Some of the chemicals handled by personnel were imported from Korea and had “no English warnings on them whatsoever,” leaving workers in the dark on associated risks, the legal team alleged.
They also raised concerns over “constant overtime.”
“That, to me, is a sign that you are not being efficient and productive at your forecasting model,” Richie said.
“If you’ve got to have people that are working all night in a dangerous situation, that is obviously very irresponsible. That is why pilots have regulated sleep requirements. When you’re dealing with anything like that, it’s a big issue.”
Darren Richie, attorney
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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