$27.5 Million Verdict for Worker Burned in Biomass Boiler Fireball at AES Mendota

Brian Hall was a worker at the AES Mendota biomass power plant in California's Central Valley. The plant's boiler had been offline for two days because molten slag had blocked it. AES hired a subcontractor, North American Industrial Services (NAIS), to clear the blockage using explosives.

Through what the record described as a series of miscues during the clearing operation, a fireball erupted from the boiler and engulfed Hall. He was hospitalized in a coma. The burns he sustained were severe enough to fundamentally alter every dimension of his life.

Hall and his wife Jean retained Miles, Sears & Eanni. Attorneys Richard Watters and Douglas Gordon led the case in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, with William Seiler also appearing as counsel of record. The firm built the case around the decision-making failures that allowed a live explosive operation to go forward under conditions that created a foreseeable path to ignition.

Watters obtained video depositions of NAIS employees before the defense team was present, capturing unfavorable admissions on camera. The jury apportioned fault at 75 percent to NAIS, 20 percent to AES Mendota, and 5 percent to Hall himself.

The jury returned a total verdict of $27,514,746: $7,264,746 in economic damages and $20 million in noneconomic damages for Brian Hall, plus $250,000 to Jean Hall for loss of consortium. After a workers' compensation offset of approximately $269,000 applied to the economic portion, the court entered final judgment of roughly $20.2 million. A Super Lawyers editorial profile described the gross verdict as the largest in the history of the Eastern District of California at the time.