Facts

On Dec. 11, 2013, an industrial explosion occurred on land owned by defendant Edendale LLC. Defendant Smokey Jack LP leased the land from Edendale. Robert Thomason, Jr. is a limited partner of Smokey Jack and corporate officer of Edendale. Smokey Jack hired Bavaro, Inc. to provide farm management services for the subject property. Bavaro hired Big Valley Labor to provide the labor for the farm. Bavaro employees, Dominic Bavaro and Jose Calderon, managed Big Valley Labor employees Eleazar Mendoza, Nicolas Vidal and decedent Christian Ivan Gonzalez Terrones, a 30-year-old farm maintenance worker, at the time of the incident.

In late 2013, Smokey Jack partner and Edendale corporate officer Robert Thomason Jr. instructed the owner of Bavaro, Dominic Bavaro, to remove an old fuel tank stored in a shop on the Smokey Jack property and make the tank watertight. Bavaro passed these instructions on to his foreman Jose Calderon, who then passed these instructions along to Big Valley Labor employees Eleazar Mendoza, Nicolas Vidal and decedent Ivan Terrones.

On the day of the accident, Calderon instructed and demonstrated for decedent how to braze another tank using an oxy-acetylene torch and brazing rods. When they were done brazing that tank, decedent and Vidal then moved on to the subject tank. Decedent attempted to repair small holes that were found in the subject tank in the same manner that he was taught by Calderon. As soon as decedent approached the tank with the lit torch, the tank exploded.

Plaintiffs are decedent's two minor children and their mother Claudia Maria Payan Alapizco.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS:
Thomason grew up around this property and was aware the subject tank was previously used to store fuel, but did not tell Bavaro or any other person working on the tank this information. Vidal cleaned the tank by repeatedly pouring water into the tank, shaking the tank around, and then draining the tank. The tank was then placed on a pallet so decedent could repair the tank and prepare it for painting as he had done on two previous tanks on the Smokey Jack property.

Prior to the day of the accident, Vidal was instructed to move the old fuel tank from the shop on the Smokey Jack property using a forklift. When Vidal went to clean the subject fuel tank, he noticed a black liquid in the tank and drained the liquid into a plastic container. Vidal smelled the black liquid and placed his hand in it in an attempt to identify it. Calderon also examined the liquid on the day of the accident, but did not identify it.

Prior to lighting the torch, nobody warned decedent not to weld on the tank or to use an alternative repair method.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS:
Bavaro's foreman, Jose Calderon, testified that he specifically told Terrones not to use a welding torch on the tank. Just before the explosion, he saw Terrones using the torch to clean an area of the tank for application of cold weld material. He shouted at Terrones to stop, and then the explosion occurred.

In addition, no witness claimed that Thomason asked anyone to make the tank watertight. There is zero evidence for that contention.

Smokey Jack and Edendale contended that they did not ask for the tank to be made watertight, and that they had no knowledge of welding activities.

Methamphetamine was found in Terrones' system but was not a chronic condition. Two people testified that he was not impaired at the time of the accident.

Damages

Plaintiffs claimed $115,726 in loss of household services to the minors. Loss of financial support was waived and plaintiffs took the position that decedent's immigration status was not relevant.

Result

The case settled for $2,650,000, which consisted of $2 million from D.J. Bavaro Inc. (Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co.), and $650,000 from Smokey Jack LP, Edendale, and Robert W. Thomason (The American Insurance Co./ Allianz Insurance Co.). The settlement includes two structured settlements through Berkshire Hathaway Group at the cost of $803,139 for Jair and $703,139 for Jacqueline, which would apply respectively to each child. There are also blocked accounts for each child. There will be a reimbursement of the Republic lien on the decedent in the amount of $120,000 and the Republic Underwriters Insurance Co. lien on Nicolas Vidal's case in the amount of $50,000. This settlement was approved by Minors' Compromise by Judge Kristi Culver Kapetan on April 26, 2016. Thomason was dismissed early, and was not a settling party.

Other Information

Edendale/Smokey Jack also filed a Motion for Summary Judgment heard on the same date. Judge Snauffer denied their Motion for Summary Judgment and found there were triable issues of material fact and that the evidence suggests that Bavaro and decedent were acting as agents of Smokey Jack at the time of the incident and that their actions were attributable to Smokey Jack. The court further held that the plaintiffs raised a triable issue as to whether defendants retained control over the work and affirmatively contributed to decedent's injuries by instructing him to use a welder to attempt to seal the holes in the tank. The court further held there was a triable issue of material fact as to whether Thomason, who was a principal of both Edendale and Smokey Jack, knew or should have known about the dangerous condition of the tank and failed to disclose the dangerous condition to decedent. There were other regulatory violations set forth by the plaintiff, but the court did not have to reach those contentions because of the presence of the other triable issues. Another defendant was Barley LLC, which owned an adjacent parcel of land. It was a holding of another branch of the Thomason family. In Barley's Motion for Summary Judgement heard on Dec. 30, 2015, Judge Mark Snauffer found that Barley only provided the welding equipment used at the Edendale/Smokey Jack Ranch and granted summary adjudication of the negligence causes of action. Plaintiffs immediately followed with a dismissal for a waiver of costs. FILING DATE: Oct. 1, 2014.