First Lawsuit Filed in Hammond Power Plant Fire

Powerhouse personal injury attorney, Robert Clifford, filed a lawsuit Wednesday, Aug. 5, on behalf of one of the critically injured victims at the July 28 power plant fire in Hammond, Ind.

Clifford represents Richard Alderson, 26, of Portage, Ind., who was severely burned and has undergone several skin graft operations after he was airlifted to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood where lies in critical condition. Clifford also filed Wednesday an emergency motion to preserve the coal and all machinery in the facility which will be heard at 9:15 a.m. Thursday before Judge Alfred Paul, Room 2203, in the Daley Center.

Alderson was part of a cleaning crew employed as outside contractors who was had just arrived at the plant to clean what they were told was coal dust inside the plant.

"It appears that the coal dust accumulation was so unreasonably dangerous by the time Alderson and the team arrived that it became an explosive," Clifford said. "They had not even had a chance to get their equipment off their truck when the fire broke out." The explosion at the plant created a fireball that could be seen and heard for miles.

The lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, alleges negligence in the improper maintenance of the facility against the power plant owners, Atlanta-based Southern Energy Company. The plant is operated by State Line Energy, a subsidiary of Southern Energy, which also was named a defendant in the lawsuit.

Commonwealth Edison sold the plant to the Georgia-based utility in December but now buys all the electriricity it produces. ComEd also was named a defendant in the action because it owns, supplies and transports the coal that is burned at the plant, according to allegations in the complaint.

Clifford is principal partner of Clifford Law Offices , a Chicago-based law firm concentrating in personal injury, aviation, medical negligence, product liability and wrongful death litigation.