Home Explosion Lawsuit Filed Against Oklahoma Natural Gas Over Leak

Following a natural gas explosion earlier this year, which leveled one house and damaged dozens of others, at least two lawsuits have been filed against Oklahoma Natural Gas, alleging that the utility knew about the problems with the gas lines in the area, but failed to fix them.

The explosion occurred on January 2 in northwest Oklahoma City, in the Walnut Creek neighborhood. Investigators determined that the blast was caused by a natural gas leak.

According to local media reports, two different complaints have been filed, each alleging that the natural gas supplier knew about the risk of a gas leak, and could have taken steps to prevent the explosion, but failed to do so.

One of the lawsuits was filed by Jonathan Duggan, who was injured when his home exploded. His complaint indicates that he was asleep at the time and suffered first and second degree burns.

The other lawsuit was filed by his neighbors, Wayne and Darwenia Boyd, who also were injured in the blast due to smoke inhalation. All were treated at local hospitals and released.

Internal reports by Oklahoma Natural Gas have suggested that the company knew the plastic pipelines had not been pressure tested in the 33 years since they had been installed, and neighbors said they had reported gas leaks in the past.

The explosion that leveled Duggan’s home was caused by a crack in one of those untested plastic pipes, where a weld had cracked due to poor workmanship, the utility’s report determined. The crack was just over three inches long on the outside of the gas main and two inches long on the inside. The leak was outside of Duggan’s home, but infiltrated inside during the night. It is unknown what sparked the blast.

That night, three workers with Oklahoma Natural Gas had been in the neighborhood, investigating reports of the smell of gas in the area. However, they did not find the leak before the blast, which caused an estimated $500,000 in damages to the neighborhood.