CHARLESTON – The wife of a Putnam County man who died in a 2020 chemical plant explosion has filed a lawsuit against the new owner of the company he worked for when he died.
Tina Gillenwater, individually and as administratrix of the estate of John Mark Gillenwater II, filed her complaint September 26 in Kanawha Circuit Court against Solenis LLC and Clearon Corp.
On August 11, 2022, Solenis announced it was in the process of acquiring Clearon. That acquisition was completed in September 2022. Thus, Solenis acquired all of Clearon’s assets.
Segal
| Courtesy photo
The latest complaint says Clearon’s insurance is “woefully inadequate” to satisfy the tort liabilities it faces in relation to the explosion and, because of Clearon’s divestment of assets in the acquisition, “Clearon possesses no assets to satisfy said judgment.”
Tina Gillenwater previously filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her late husband’s employer and the owners of the facility. That complaint against Optima Belle LLC, Chemours Company PC LLC, The Chemours Company, Clearon Corp. and 10 unnamed defendants was filed in December 2021, exactly one year after the fatal explosion.
John Mark Gillenwater II worked for Optima as a chemical operator at the company’s Belle location. The 723-acre plant that consists of three buildings is owned by Chemours. Clearon contracted with Optima to perform a process to remove water/moisture from chlorinated dry bleach at the plant.
According to the complaint, December 8, 2020, was the first time Clearon had supplied CDB to Optima in any form, and it was the first time Optima and its employees had ever performed the CDB drying process.
"The Gillenwater tragedy is a prime example of why when chemical manufacturers try something for the first time, it's all hands on deck," attorney Scott Segal, one of the attorneys representing the estate, told The West Virginia Record in 2021 when the wrongful death lawsuit was filed.
Both complaints – filed by Segal, Jason P. Foster and C. Edward Amos II of The Segal Law Firm in Charleston – explain the CDB Drying Process in step-by-step detail. The original complaint also says none of the defendant companies reported their use, handling or processing of CDB to the West Virginia Emergency Management Division as required by law.
According to the complaints, Gillenwater started his shift around 5:30 p.m. It says the dryer “had trouble keeping the temperatures at the proper level to dry the CDB.”
By 9:30 p.m., the complaints say Jim Funnell, who was Optima’s chemical engineer on duty, had decided to stop the dryer’s rotation and shut off the steam because of abnormalities his team was seeing.
“Just before 10:02 p.m., Mr. Gillenwater was walking toward the dryer,” the complaints state. “At approximately 10:02 p.m., the vent pipe connected to the dryer began to shake and then exploded. Almost immediately thereafter, the dryer violently and catastrophically exploded.
“The blast from the explosion was so great that it blew Mr. Gillenwater from the inside of the building to the outside of the building, and the building was destroyed.”
The explosion also blew debris across the adjacent Kanawha River and shook neighboring structures. A shelter in place was issued as well, and an ambulance was dispatched to the plant.
Gillenwater survived the explosion and remained conscious. He was carried to a decontamination shower before being transported to Charleston Area Medical Center’s General Division Emergency Room. On the way there, he said he could not breathe.
“He was suffocating and began to wave his arms wildly,” the original complaint states. “Mr. Gillenwater was intubated in the ambulance during the transport to CAMC.”
When the family heard about the explosion, they began calling Optima for information. The original complaint says an Optima representative named Doug told them he had heard about the explosion but had no other information. The family also tried to call Gillenwater’s cell phone, but those calls went to voicemail.
Just after midnight, Doug from Optima told the family Gillenwater was alive and taken to a hospital with a broken leg. The complaint says Doug also told Gillenwater’s medical providers that he only suffered a burn to the lower leg.
At 12:45 a.m., a CAMC social worker called Tina Gillenwater to tell her Gillenwater was alive but that she could not provide any other information. About 15 minutes later, an ER doctor called to tell her Gillenwater had multiple injuries, his heart was weak and that he was not expected to survive.
The family immediately headed to CAMC. But minutes later, Tina Gillenwater received a call from the same doctor saying Gillenwater had died.
The latest complaint says lethal gases released from the decomposition of the CDB-56 ultimately led to Gillenwater’s death.
The U.S. Department of Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated the incident and cited Optima for two serious violations. In addition, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board final report about the incident makes 15 recommendations to Optima Belle, Clearon, OSHA, the U.S. Environmental Protectoin Agency and others to correct deficiencies in their programs and operations as well as calling for OSHA and the EPA to “close a glaring gap in their chemical regulations and provide much-needed additional coverage of reactive chemicals.”
In addition to the estate’s first lawsuit, the latest complaint says several other entities have filed claims against Clearon relate to the explosion. The wrongful death lawsuit still is active and in the discovery phase. The trial is scheduled to begin in April.
In the wrongful death complaint, Tina Gillenwater seeks joint and several damages for her husband’s medical and hospital bills for treatment received and for his conscious pain and suffering. She also seeks damages for the estate’s sorrow, mental anguish, loss of solace, society, companionship, comfort, guidance, kindly offices and advice of decedent as well as the reasonably expected loss of his income, services, protection, care and assistance.
The complaint also lists damages of temporary and permanent psychological injuries, severe and significant emotional distress, temporary and permanent mental pain and suffering, fear, humiliation, embarrassment, annoyance, inconvenience, loss of physical health and well-being, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of income and/or earning capacity including loss of services and earnings, loss of value of employment benefits include pension and retirement, loss of homemaker services, loss of consortium.
The estate also seeks civil penalties, attorney fees, court costs, pre- and post-judgment interest, other compensatory damages, punitive damages, exemplary damages and other relief.
In the latest complaint, the estate asks the court to make sure its claims in the wrongful death action are satisfied, to remedy any possible transfer of assets by Solenis, an injunction against further disposition by Clearon and/or Solenis of the assets transferred or of other property and appointment of a receiver to take charge of the assets transferred in the acquisition or of other Solenis property.
Both cases have been assigned to Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 23-C-860 (Solenis) Kanawha Circuit Court case number 21-C-1105 (Clearon wrongful death)
