WILLIAMSON – The wife of a late Mingo County man has sued a Kentucky insulation company and a manufacturer after a barrel exploded and killed him.
Debrah Canterbury filed her complaint April 7 against Reed’s Sprayfoam Insulation Inc., Jenna Reed, Tim Reed Inc. and Southwest Distributing Company doing business as SWD Urethane. Canterbury filed the complaint as executrix of the estate of Watson Canterbury Jr. Reed’s Sprayfoam was based in Belfry, Kentucky, but it now is based in Williamson. SWD is based in Mesa, Arizona.
According to the complaint, Watson Canterbury traveled from his home in Delbarton on November 18, 2020, to Belfry after seeing a Facebook Marketplace advertisement by Reed’s selling used sprayfoam drums for $5 each. Canterbury purchased six drums to make “burn barrels,” which the complaint says are common in rural areas and a “reasonably foreseeable purpose.”
Chafin
On December 3, Canterbury was removing the top from one of the barrels when it exploded, causing him to suffer severe head trauma. About 30 minutes later, he died. Debrah Canterbury was present when the explosion occurred.
She accuses the defendants of negligence. She says SWD knew of the potential danger and explosive characteristics of its product but failed to eliminate the danger or warn customers of it.
She also says Reed’s Sprayfoam, Tim Reed Inc. and Jenna Reed should have known of the dangerous and volatile nature of the product as well.
“The product contained in the steel drum was defective at the time it was sold, or otherwise transferred to Reed’s Sprayfoam Insulation Inc. and then to Watson Canterbury Jr. in that dangerous, volatile, explosive and otherwise deadly fumes created by the Quik-Seal 112 B residue were in the steel drum making the steel drum, in essense, a deadly bomb,” the complaint states.
Such incidents have occurred before. In 2017, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel posted a story detailing dozens of similar accidents. That investigation found at least 69 deaths and many more injuries from 2002 to 2017.
Debrah Canterbury also accuses the defendants of product liability, negligent infliction of emotional distress, wrongful death and strict liability.
In addition to compensatory damages, she also seeks punitive damages and damages for loss of consortium. She also seeks pre- and post-judgment interest, court costs, attorney fees and other relief.
She is being represented by Truman Chafin and Tish Chafin of The Chafin Law Firm in Williamson. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Miki Thompson.
Mingo Circuit Court case number 21-C-41