201901.31
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Settlement with DA requires manufacturer to pay $1.6 million tied to fatal explosion at Rancho Santa Margarita plant

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A plastic manufacturer has agreed to a $1.6 million settlement to end a long-running civil lawsuit related to a fatal explosion at a Rancho Santa Margarita plant, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.

In a settlement approved by an Orange County Superior Court judge that heads off a civil trial, the owners of Solus Industrial Innovations agreed to pay $1.5. million in penalties and $100,000 in restitution related to the incident that left two employees dead.

Jose Jimenez, 51, of Garden Grove and Isidro Echeverria, 34, of Oceanside were killed on March 19, 2009 when a water heated exploded at the plastic manufacturing plant.

  • In 2009, damage at the front of Solus Industrial Innovations manufacturing plant showed compression damage from an explosion at the back of the building where two employees were killed. The company agreed to a $1.6 million judgement to end a civil lawsuit. (File Photo by Ken Steinhardt, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • In 2009, OCFA fire investigators use their ladder to get a look at the roof damage at Solus Industrial Innovations manufacturing plant where two employees were killed. The company agreed to a $1.6 million judgement to end a civil lawsuit. (File Photo by Ken Steinhardt, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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  • In 2009 a TV news cameraman photographed the compression damage at the front of Solus Industrial Innovations manufacturing plant where two employees were killed after an explosion that rocked the plastic components manufacturing site in Rancho Santa Margarita. The company agreed to a $1.6 million judgement to end a civil lawsuit. (File Photo by Ken Steinhardt, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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The California Division of Occupational Safety and health determined that the accident was caused by a lack of safety features.

The civil lawsuit, filed by the District Attorney’s Office in 2012, accused Solus of maintaining an unsafe work environment. The lawsuit contended that after the water heater was installed, supervisors at the plant opted not to use an industrial-grade boiler, which would have required a gas line.

Instead, the lawsuit alleged, the supervisors bought a $500 residential water heater from Lowe’s and installed it without a permit. The heater was used to melt plastic.

Solus officials, as well as attorneys representing the company, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Solus initially fought the lawsuit, saying the district attorney’s civil action was preempted by federal labor law. The Fourth District Court of Appeal agreed, but the ruling was reversed last year by the California Supreme Court, which allowed the DA’s lawsuit to move forward.

In a related criminal case, Carl Richardson, the plant manager, and Roy Faulkinbury, the maintenance supervisor, pleaded no contest in 2014 to violating state safety standards and agreed to pay a total of $450,000 to the victims’ families.