Class-action lawsuit likely after Boksburg tanker explosion

At least 25 people affected by the Christmas Eve Boksburg gas tanker explosion have joined to instruct a law firm specialising in class-action and civil litigation to take on their case.

“We have been instructed by the group — some of whom are seriously injured — to institute legal proceedings on their behalf, which may be a class-action suit,” said class-action specialist and Canada-admitted attorney Zain Lundell, who has taken on the case for RH Lawyers, known as RHL.

“The case is at the beginning stages with numbers changing all the time,” he said. “Some of our clients are still in ICU and very serious, and in the past day the sister of one of them died. She was at her home close to where the explosion happened.”

Lundell said RHL had been instructed to institute legal proceedings against possible wrongdoers, who include:

• Innovative Staff Solutions;
• Infinite Fleet Transport;
• The Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa);
• The Ekurhuleni metro, including the police service and firefighting department; and
• Others who may be liable for civil damages arising from the explosion.

The lawsuit emanates from a gas explosion on December 24 when a tanker owned and controlled by Infinite Fleet Transport became wedged under a low bridge and exploded. The tanker was transporting about 60,000l of liquefied petroleum gas from Richards Bay to Botswana. It was travelling along Hospital Road, close to OR Tambo Memorial Hospital in Boksburg, when it got stuck while passing underneath a railway bridge.

The trailer was damaged, which led to a gas leak. Rescue workers went to help, but a short while later the tanker exploded. The death toll has been climbing since the explosion and by Tuesday had risen to 38.

In a class-action lawsuit, a group of affected individuals join in the same action to obtain relief instead of bringing separate claims.

The intended action will be brought in the Johannesburg high court, with RHL representing the affected people and entities on a no-win, no-fee basis, Lundell said. Prospective claimants are people who suffered harm in the explosion and its aftermath.

“Some of them were injured and suffered third-degree burns, scarring, physical impairment and disability. Some have experienced severe psychiatric harm in the form of grief, shock and emotional trauma because of the wrongful death of a loved one or because of what they witnessed simply because they were nearby when it happened,” Lundell said, adding that some had suffered financial harm through the death of a breadwinner or financial supporter.

Claimants will ask for past and future losses, medical expenses, general damages and compensation for pain and suffering.

Lundell said investigations were at an early stage but work was being done to determine whether the company involved was functioning optimally on the day of the explosion. “But that’s mere speculation at this stage,” he said, adding that the timing was terrible for the victims.

The case would involve accusations of negligence against the driver for conveying a hazardous load “without adequate cause, diverting from the prescribed route and entering a residential zone”.

The driver, it is alleged, failed to exercise good practice or required care by travelling under a low bridge inadequate to accommodate the gas tanker. The requisite emergency preparedness and response plan or emergency action plans were allegedly also not exercised and traffic regulations were contravened.

“Innovative Staff Solutions, the employer of the driver, is vicariously liable for the omissions of the driver, who was at the time acting in the course and scope of his employment,” RHL claimed in the notice of their action.

It alleged that “Innovative Staff Solutions is also negligent in outsourcing an inexperienced driver who was not adequately experienced with the conveyance of high-risk vehicles; and was not conversant to prescribed emergency preparedness and response plans or emergency action plans”.

Claims would also be lodged against Prasa, or alternatively the Ekurhuleni metro, for their alleged negligence to display proper height clearance signage at the bridge. It is also alleged metro police and firefighters failed to take adequate steps to cordon off spectators in time, as required by protocols.

Fifty people are still in hospital and the number of deaths is likely to increase.

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