2006 Falk Corporation Explosion - Legal Action

Legal Action

Although workers compensation laws deny workers the right to sue their employer, it is possible for them to sue a related third party. Within a week of the explosion Williams Bailey, a law firm based in Houston, Texas, placed half-page advertisements in a local newspaper. The adverts read "Were you seriously injured in last week's explosion?", and directed potential clients to the company website. The advert also claims that the firm has extensive experience in explosion-related cases. Fran Deisinger, director of the Milwaukee Bar Association, said of the ad "It's a little disconcerting because it's such a terrible situation here that I think it probably rubs everybody a little wrong,", adding that although he believed the ad to be in poor taste, it didn't breach any rules for lawyer advertising. Although it is unclear whether any workers contacted Williams Bailey, it is known that at least one injured man, and the families of the deceased, have hired personal injury lawyer Bob Habush to represent them, who once before worked on a high profile industrial case when three people died as a result of a crane collapse in 1991. On February 7, 2007, he launched a suit against Brennan based on these allegations. J.M. Brennan responded with the following statement: "We are proud of our employees and the response they took in response to the explosion. And we're confident that the results of the official investigation will show that J.M. Brennan's work was reasonable and did not contribute to the cause of the explosion." Robert Habush wound up settling the case.