Citing "Shoddy Materials and Shoddy Work" Revealed in Today's Scathing NTSB Update, Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky Attorneys Press to Hold Accountable All Responsible for Palmer Candy Plant Mass-casualty Explosion

Firm filed first wrongful death action in April on behalf of employee, mother-of-three, among seven killed

PHILADELPHIA, July 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Catastrophic explosion attorneys Robert J. Mongeluzzi and Andrew R. Duffy, of Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky, today said the National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) scathing update on the March, mass-casualty explosion at the R.M. Palmer candy plant in W. Reading, Pennsylvania, clearly indicates the disaster was the result of "shoddy materials and shoddy work". In April they filed the first wrongful death and negligence lawsuit on behalf of Judith Lopez-Moran, one of seven workers-victims who died in the natural-gas fueled explosion at the chocolate factory.

Mr. Mongeluzzi said following release of the report, "Today's NTSB findings are disturbing. Natural gas is deadly and gas companies must protect the public from devastating explosions. The continued use of piping and materials known to be dangerously defective is outrageous. The NTSB confirmed that shoddy materials and shoddy work cost seven people their lives. UGI's conduct is inexcusable." 

Mr. Duffy added, "A gas company's primary responsibility is to take all steps to ensure its natural gas piping is safe and not leaking. The public places its trust in the gas company to keep homes and businesses safe from the deadly consequences of natural gas explosions.  The NTSB concluded that after UGI performed work in 2021, two lines were leaking gas. UGI Corp. failed in its solemn responsibility to ensure the safe transmission of natural gas and DuPont failed to manufacture piping that was safe for use with natural gas. We will aggressively hold UGI and DuPont accountable through this litigation."

Defendants in the complaint include UGI Corp. - the gas suppliers to the West Reading borough site – DuPont (and corporate entities), and R.M. Palmer and its affiliates.

The firm represents more than 20 victims of the disaster; attorney Aidan B. Carickhoff also is on the legal team.

Victims' families often turn to Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky to help obtain answers - and accountability through the civil justice system - in the aftermath of such tragedies. The firm's team of catastrophic explosion and mass-disaster attorneys has represented victims and their loved ones in numerous mass-casualty – often fatal – incidents in Pennsylvania and around the country. The firm has recovered billions of dollars for victims of such tragedies. In recent years, its clients include families of the victims of the 2022 Pottstown residential gas explosion and the lethal 2019 blast that leveled five row houses in South Philadelphia. The firm notably obtained a $160 million settlement resulting from a Philadelphia food truck explosion. It has also handled numerous factory explosions throughout the Commonwealth, as well as many residential gas explosions. In other mass disaster cases, Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky obtained a $1.2 billion settlement in the Miami Condominium collapse and a $227 million recovery in the Salvation Army building collapse. 

SOURCE Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky P.C.