Estate of 24-Year-Old Killed in Recycling Plant Explosion Sues Employer

Tuesday, August 23, 2016 | 0

The estate of a 24-year-old man killed by a Granite City recycling plant explosion sued the plant, the U.S. government and the company that hauled material to the plant, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

Tyler Muenstermann was killed on Aug. 22, 2014, at Totall Metal Recycling Inc. when a live mortar shell exploded at the plant.

Totall Metal Recycling sometimes receives material from the U.S. military, including spent shell casings. Shipments are not supposed to include live ammunition, a plant spokeswoman told the Belleville News-Democrat in 2014.

Muenstermann's estate alleges in the lawsuit that the U.S. government should have known the shells it shipped to Totall were live. The hauler, DaRan Inc., also should have recognized that its load contained live munitions, the suit alleges.

Totall shares the blame, considering it should have trained employees on how to recognize and dispose of live shells, the suit alleges.

The suit seeks damages of $75,000-plus from each party.

The explosion also killed Rodolfo Romo, 46, of Fairmont City, whose estate sued Totall and the U.S. government in federal court in April 2015.

In that pending suit, Totall is putting up an exclusive remedy defense under the Illinois Workers' Compensation Act. The U.S. has countersued Totall, claiming that under the memorandum of understanding, Totall assumed liability for the shipment.

Read the Post-Dispatch's story here.