West Fertilizer Co. Illustrates A Good Reason To Have Adequate Liability Insurance

West Fertilizer Co. blew up and caused a lot of damage in West Texas on April 17, 2013.  It also killed 14 people. More than 200 others were injured.  There was over twenty million dollars in damage to the surrounding area.  A trial lawyer's dream turned nightmare as the company had only $1 million in liability coverage! Attorneys such as Randy C. Roberts who have filed lawsuits against West Fertilizer's owners were told Thursday of the $1 million in liability insurance. Brook Laskey, has been hired to defend the plant.  Laskey confirmed the small amount of insurance in an email to The Associated Press.
"The bottom line is, this lack of insurance coverage is just consistent with the overall lack of responsibility we've seen from the fertilizer plant, starting from the fact that from day one they have yet to acknowledge responsibility," Roberts said. Roberts anticipates that the plant will file for bankruptcy.

State and federal investigators have yet to determine the cause of the fire and explosion. It was unknown as to the amount of ammonium nitrate present at the time of the fire."The law allows courts to presume negligence when something happens that would not ordinarily occur but for negligence... A fire might be an unavoidable accident, but an explosion of this magnitude resulting from a fire is not an unavoidable accident," explained Roberts.