LEXINGTON, Ky. — Lawyers have filed the first lawsuit against Mayfield Consumer Products LLC, alleging the company ordered workers to stay at its candle factory in the hours before a tornado destroyed it on Dec. 10.
MCP production line worker Elijah Johnson, 20, and unnamed other plaintiffs sued the company in Graves Circuit Court late Thursday night.
The suit was filed electronically. The Graves County courthouse was badly damaged by the same tornado, and the Kentucky Supreme Court has declared the court “non-operational” until alternative space can be found in the area.
In the suit, the plaintiffs said MCP failed to “provide a workplace free from serious recognized hazards,” as required by state law.
MCP had more than three hours to evacuate the factory after the first tornado warning sirens sounded at around 6 p.m. on Dec. 10, the plaintiffs said. Instead, some employees who asked to go home were told they could be fired for leaving their shifts early, the plaintiffs said.
There were 110 people in the factory when the tornado hit shortly after 9 p.m., by which point the warning sirens were blaring again. Eight people died. Johnson and others were injured when the factory collapsed on them.
“Defendant knew or should have known that it was dangerously unsafe for its employees to remain working at its place of business during the approaching tornado,” according to the suit, which was prepared by attorneys Amos Jones of Washington, D.C., and William Davis of Lexington.
The suit asks for unspecified compensatory and punitive damages as well as legal fees. It also requests class-action status, which would — if a judge approves — allow the lawyers to represent a larger group of those affected by the factory collapse.
MCP spokesman Bob Ferguson repeatedly has denied the allegations in the lawsuit. On Wednesday, he said the factory employees were free to leave work early in the hours before the tornado if they felt unsafe, with no fear of reprisal. Ferguson said he had not seen any evidence otherwise from the lawyers threatening to sue.
“We live in a litigious society,” Ferguson said.
Also on Wednesday, the company said it will hire outside experts to conduct its own review of what happened at the factory, separate from the state-led workplace safety investigation that Gov. Andy Beshear has announced.
“We’re confident that our team leaders acted entirely appropriately and were, in fact, heroic in their efforts to shelter our employees,” the company said in a prepared statement.
“We are hearing accounts from a few employees that our procedures were not followed. We’re going to do a thorough review of what happened, and we’re asking these experts to critique our emergency plans and to offer any suggestions on ways they may be improved, if any,” the company said.
