A significant legal milestone has been reached in the protracted litigation surrounding the catastrophic 2015 El Pecos Restaurant gas explosion in Maraval, with one of the numerous related lawsuits now progressing toward trial. At a January 5 case management hearing, Justice Nadia Kangaloo solidified procedural timelines and scheduled a crucial pre-trial review for April 17, when trial dates will be formally established and evidential objections addressed.
The judicial developments follow a pivotal December ruling by the Court of Appeal that upheld substantial negligence findings against North Plant LPG Co-Operative Society Ltd. In a unanimous decision, Justices Mark Mohammed and Peter Rajkumar affirmed Justice James Aboud’s judgment dismissing North Plant’s appeal against a $160,000 general damages award to Gregory Maicoo, an employee who sustained severe burns during the liquefied petroleum gas delivery incident.
Justice Aboud’s comprehensive analysis validated trial judge Justice Ricky Rahim’s 2022 determination that North Plant breached its duty of care, emphasizing that Rahim’s conclusions were grounded in “a judicious evaluation of the evidence” without “material error that undermines his factual conclusions.” The appellate court notably rejected North Plant’s safety protocol defenses, finding the company’s arguments without merit.
The legal proceedings encompass multiple dimensions of the tragedy, including compensation claims from seriously injured victims and insurance subrogation claims from neighboring businesses affected by the blast. Among the pending cases is a separate action filed by the brother of restaurant accountant John Soo Ping Chow, who succumbed to burn injuries four months after the explosion at a Miami hospital.
Justice Kangaloo has advised legal representatives to monitor the upcoming February hearing in the Chow case for potential implications on their respective matters. The complex litigation landscape involves numerous represented parties, including Restaurant Holdings Ltd, National Petroleum Company Ltd, and El Pecos itself, all navigating a web of interconnected negligence and liability claims.
Justice Aboud highlighted the inefficiency of addressing these claims individually, noting the missed opportunity for using a “test case or representative action” to establish negligence parameters, which risks “wasting valuable court time relitigating issues of fact that have already been determined.”