Quemado Explosion Victim files lawsuit against automotive parts maker Takata in Maverick County, Texas
By: Jose G. Landa, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2016
Del Rio, Texas resident Rene De Los Santos Olveda filed a lawsuit and application for a temporary restraining order against automotive parts maker Takata de Mexico and TK Holdings, Inc., a subsidiary of Takata Corporation, in the 365th Judicial District Court of Maverick County, Texas on September 1, 2016 arising from the explosion in Quemado, Texas as a result of a Takata commercial truck loaded with air bag inflators and ammonium nitrate crashing and exploding on U.S. Highway 277 North on August 22, 2016, at approximately 2 A.M., resulting in one person killed and four persons injured.
Texas attorney Mohammad Aziz of the Houston law firm of Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Sorrels, Agosto & Friend filed the lawsuit on behalf of Plaintiff, Rene De Los Santos Olveda, who was seriously injured in the explosion of the air bag inflators and ammonium nitrate.
One person died as a result of the Takata air bag inflators and ammonium nitrate exploding after the accident. Lucila Robles, age 69, of Quemado, Texas perished inside her home that was torched to the ground by the massive explosion of the air bag inflators and ammonium nitrate on August 22nd. Robles remains are believed to have been burned into ashes inside her home while sleeping as only teeth and bone fragments belonging to her were found and identified by forensic experts.
Robles worked at Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio, Texas as a Nurse Practitioner for more than nine years.
Four other persons, including De Los Santos Olveda, were seriously injured as the result of the extraordinary explosion. The driver of the commercial truck and a passenger were injured as well as a man and woman passing by in a Toyota RAV4 near the explosion site.
Attorney Mohammad Aziz stated in the Original Petition that “the chemical compound used by the defendants in their air bag propellant and inflators has a history of causing death and destruction.” Aziz is of the opinion that Takata air bag inflators made of ammonium nitrate may have caused the huge explosion after the accident.
Aziz is requesting the District Court to grant a temporary restraining order against the two Takata companies from destroying and molesting the accident site as a result of its own investigation and post-accident recovery of air bag inflators and other accident-site evidence.
Takata personnel have been seen at the accident site and surrounding area searching for the thousands of air bag inflators and other evidence which were on board the commercial truck that lost control and crashed in a ditch off the shoulder of U.S. Highway 277 North immediately in front of Robles’ residence and property, approximately one mile south of the community of Quemado, Texas.
In addition, the accident site has been leveled to the ground and no longer represents the same scene as immediately after the accident, compromising the evidence and spoliation of some of the evidence for experts to evaluate.
The commerial truck carrying the hazardous freight from Del Rio to Takata’s warehouse in Eagle Pass, Texas highlights the dangers of transporting the air bag inflators from its original factory in Washington State to the U.S.-Mexico border for export to Takata’s air bag factory in Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico.
Takata announced that the commercial truck was carrying ammonium nitrate and the air bag inflators at the moment of the accident on August 22nd.
Takata is currently involved in the largest recall of air bags in the history of automotive manufacturing. Over 64 million air bag inflators have been recalled by at least 14 automotive companies. The Takata-made air bags installed by just about every automaker have exploded suddenly and unexpectedly when activated, causing at least 14 deaths of auto drivers and injuring over 100 people.
More lawsuits are expected to be filed in Maverick County, Texas in the immediate future arising from the Takata air bag inflators and ammonium nitrate explosion on August 22nd, according to legal experts.
