Consumers Energy Co. Named in Wrongful Death Lawsuit
A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed on behalf of a man and a woman that died in an explosion at a furniture store in December. Residents in Wayne County, Detroit complained of a gas smell in the area before the explosion occurred. The lawsuit contends that Consumers Energy, the company that supplies gas to the neighborhood where the furniture store is located, did not act responsibly or quickly enough in evacuating the area after complaints began to arise.
The furniture store’s owner – 64-year-old William Franks, and two employees at the store; 64-year-old James Zell and 54-year-old Leslie Machniak were all trapped in the building when the blast occurred. Zell and Machniak were both killed in the explosion. The families are seeking roughly $25,000 in damages for each family.
There are many cases where a company may believe that if there is no immediate threat of danger to a community, certain actions need not be taken to prevent danger. However, in many incidents, a company does not properly gauge the severity of the situation at the time and serious consequences can occur just like in this incident. If the Consumers Energy company is found to have acted negligently and failed to evacuate the neighborhood despite knowledge of a gas leak, they should be held responsible for the explosion as the gas leak was a direct cause of the explosion.
