SMITHFIELD, N.C. (AP) - A jury has awarded $14.6 million to seven people hurt in an explosion at a now closed ConAgra Slim Jim factory in Garner.
The News & Observer of Raleigh reports a Johnston County jury gave more than $12 million to two former ConAgra workers, Leonard Spruill and Anthony Smith for medical care and lost wages. Five other workers received the remaining money.
Court documents from last week indicate the jury will return in June to consider punitive damages against Jacobs Engineering, Group Inc. and one of its employees. The company was blamed for the blast which happened as its workers were purging a gas line to install water heaters.
Three people were killed in the June 2009 explosion, and 38 of the 300 workers in the plant were injured.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
