Serving Chattanooga and beyond Commercial Truck Accident Attorney Chattanooga

On June 12, 2011, a fire broke out in the chlorine rework process area of the HTH building at the Arch Chemical plant in Charleston, Tennessee.  Arch Chemicals manufactures chlorine products for swimming pools, working in close association with Olin Corporation, which is located on the same property.  Very quickly heat, chlorine gas and smoke filled the building and were soon boiling out of the roof vents several floor above.  Four ironworkers employed by BIS Frucon Industrial Services, who were building a scaffold on the roof of that building, were trapped on the roof above the fire.  The men immediately donned their respirators and tried to escape, but the heat, gas and smoke was intense and visibility was very limited. Escape routes were engulfed in heat, gas and smoke.  Eventually all of the men were able to escape the roof and get to safety, but three had sustained very serious injuries, including burns, lung damage, and orthopedic injuries due to falling while trying to escape.

The fire had spontaneously ignited in HTH chlorine products that were being stored by Arch Chemicals in plastic rework totes. Rapid decomposition caused spontaneous ignition and the fire broke out.  Plaintiffs alleged that Arch Chemicals had stored an excessive number of plastic totes in the area which caused the fire and that there was no fire suppression system in place or that it failed to function properly.

Arch Chemical and Olin Corporation were supposed to cooperate and coordinate responses in the event of an emergency situation through their Emergency Response Teams, but neither of them sounded an evacuation alarm until it was too late for the Plaintiffs.  And to make matter worse, first responders from Bradley County were held up at the gate upon arrival at the plant.

Plaintiffs filed suit in Bradly County Circuit Court but the defendants removed the case to Federal Court in Chattanooga, Robert Dan Green, et al v. Arch Chemicals, Inc., Olin Corporation, et al, 1:12-CV-00220, U.S. District Court (E.D. Tenn.).

The case presented complex issues concerning the liability of the various defendants, which included both Arch and Olin and Olin’s security contractor, Securitas, as well as exclusive remedy under Tennessee law. It was settled after mediation in January 2014, under a confidentiality agreement that prohibits disclosure of the amount paid to each of the Plaintiffs.  The plaintiffs were represented by Hubert Hamilton.

Annette Palmer, age 45, died tragically in a wreck on I-81 in Sullivan County, Tennessee on January 18, 2013.  It was after midnight and she was a back seat passenger in a Ford Focus driven by her adult daughter.  It was cold and snowy and weather conditions were deteriorating as they traveled north.  Suddenly the car spun out of control due to black ice on the road and came to a stop in the middle of the northbound traffic lanes.

However, a tractor trailer was bearing down on the car.  It was traveling 63 mph in a 55 mph zone on cruise control in the snowy and icy conditions.  The driver never saw the Ford Focus until it was too late.  He never slowed down, smashed into the car and killed Mrs. Palmer.

Although the driver’s post-accident urine drug test showed a high level of marijuana metabolites, the driver denied smoking pot since he had left California several days before.  The trucking company, and their toxicology expert, argued that the driver was not impaired, and that the urine test could not be used to prove impairment.  They blamed the wreck on Mrs. Palmer’s daughter for losing control of her car which had bald tires that were unsafe for the road conditions. However, Mrs. Palmer knew nothing about the condition of the tires.  She was just coming along to help her daughter move.

It was a challenging case with hotly disputed liability, as the truck driver and his employer tried to lay all the blame for the wreck on the daughter and her bald tires. With trial set for September 1, 2015, the parties recently a compromise resolution of the case of $595,000 for the wrongful death of Mrs. Palmer, who is survived by her husband of 13 years and the adult daughter.  Carter Palmer, her husband, was represented by Hu Hamilton of the The Hamilton Firm, in association with Buck Rogers of Atlanta. Carter Palmer v. Starlight Logistic Services, Inc., Case No. 2:14-CV-15, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Tennessee.