{"id":4188,"date":"2025-02-14T20:36:10","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T20:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/5-workers-sue-valero-energy-over-texas-refinery-blast\/"},"modified":"2025-02-14T20:36:10","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T20:36:10","slug":"5-workers-sue-valero-energy-over-texas-refinery-blast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/5-workers-sue-valero-energy-over-texas-refinery-blast\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Workers Sue Valero Energy Over Texas Refinery Blast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div data-v-e97bc92c=\"\">\n<div data-v-e97bc92c=\"\">\n<p>Five workers injured in an explosion at a Texas Gulf Coast refinery filed a lawsuit seeking more than $1 million in damages Thursday against Valero Energy Corp., alleging the company\u2019s negligence led to catastrophic safety failures.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>  <!----> <!----> <!----><\/p>\n<div data-v-e97bc92c=\"\">\n<p>The lawsuit, filed in Texas District Court for Bexar County, claims San Antonio-based Valero failed to properly maintain aging equipment. It also alleges the company ignored warnings about dangerous conditions before the Jan. 26,<sup>th<\/sup> 2025 blast rocked the refinery, located in Three Rivers, a town in South Texas, halfway between San Antonio and Corpus Christi.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!----> <!----> <!----> <!----><\/p>\n<div data-v-e97bc92c=\"\">\n<p>Valero did not respond to requests for comment by publication time, and neither did W. Lamar DeLong and Ryan Zehl, attorneys for the plaintiffs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!----> <!----> <!----> <!----> <!---->  <!----> <!----><\/p>\n<div data-v-e97bc92c=\"\">\n<p>Plaintiffs Justin Marsalia and John Gross suffered third degree burns as a result of the flash fire that ensued from the explosion, and were hospitalized at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, according to court documents. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!----> <!----> <!----> <!----><\/p>\n<div data-v-e97bc92c=\"\">\n<p>Plaintiffs Barry Wade, Jazreth Carroll, and Juan Soto also suffered varying degrees of mental and physical injuries as a result of Valero\u2019s alleged negligence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!----> <!----> <!----> <!----><\/p>\n<div data-v-e97bc92c=\"\">\n<p>The lawsuit, filed by Zehl &amp; Associates, based in Houston, alleges the five workers sustained injuries when Valero\u2019s refinery operator opened a pressure valve near multiple potential ignition sources causing an explosion and flash fire.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!----> <!---->  <!----><\/p>\n<div data-v-e97bc92c=\"\">\n<p>The Valero Three Rivers Refinery, with 290 employees,\u00a0processes 100,000 barrels of oil daily and produces gasoline, distillates and aromatics, according to the company&#8217;s website.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!----> <!----> <!----> <!----><\/p>\n<div data-v-e97bc92c=\"\">\n<p>\u201cAs a result of Defendant\u2019s negligence and gross negligence, Plaintiffs have undergone substantial, reasonable and necessary medical treatment for these injuries,&#8221; W. Lamar DeLong, attorney for the plaintiffs, wrote in the lawsuit. \u201cIn all likelihood, Plaintiffs will continue to require substantial, reasonable and necessary medical treatment on a continuing basis.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!----> <!----> <!----> <!----><\/p>\n<div data-v-e97bc92c=\"\">\n<p>It was reportedly the second fire at the Three Rivers Refinery in January. The first one occurred on New Year\u2019s Day, but no injuries were reported in that incident, according to the Oil &amp; Gas Journal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!----> <!----> <!----> <!----><\/p>\n<div data-v-e97bc92c=\"\">\n<p>In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged their injuries were caused by Valero\u2019s \u201cnegligent, careless, and reckless disregard of safety.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!----> <!----> <!----> <!----><\/p>\n<div data-v-e97bc92c=\"\">\n<p>The lawsuit claims Valero failed to maintain the work site and failed to safely operate the equipment, and failed to warn plaintiffs of a hazard \u201cValero was aware of or should have been aware of.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!----> <!----> <!----> <!----><\/p>\n<div data-v-e97bc92c=\"\">\n<p>The plaintiffs are seeking compensation for medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering mental anguish and punitive damages. They are requesting a jury trial.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!----> <!----> <!----> <!----><\/p>\n<div data-v-e97bc92c=\"\">\n<p>This was allegedly a preventable disaster caused by Valero\u2019s gross negligence, according to the lawsuit. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!----> <!----> <!----> <!----><\/p>\n<div data-v-e97bc92c=\"\">\n<p>\u201cPlaintiffs allege that these acts and omissions, when viewed objectively from Valero\u2019s standpoint, involved an extreme degree of risk, considering the probability and magnitude of the potential harm to Plaintiffs and others. Defendants had actual, subjective awareness of the risks of their conduct, but still proceeded with conscious indifference to the rights, safety, or welfare of Plaintiffs and others,\u201d according to court documents..<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!----> <!----> <!----> <!----><\/p>\n<div data-v-e97bc92c=\"\">\n<p><i>This action was surfaced by\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/law.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Law.com<\/i><\/a><i>\u00a0Radar, which delivers real-time alerting on new\u00a0litigation across more than 2,600 state and federal courts. <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.com\/radar-intro\" target=\"_blank\" link-data=\"{\" cms.site.owner=\"\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><i>Click here<\/i><\/a><i> to get started and be first to act on opportunities in your region, practice area or client sector<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!----> <!----> <!----> <!----><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Five workers injured in an explosion at a Texas Gulf Coast refinery filed a lawsuit seeking more than $1 million in damages Thursday against Valero Energy Corp., alleging [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4656,1536,4655,440,1535,4654,499],"class_list":["post-4188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-blast","tag-energy","tag-refinery","tag-sue","tag-texas","tag-valero","tag-workers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}