How a Gas Explosion Injury Lawyer Can Maximize Your Recovery in New York City

A gas explosion injury lawyer can help you get compensation from the right parties when you have suffered any type of injury arising from a gas explosion. When you or a loved one has been a victim of a gas explosion, call us immediately so we may be able to help you. Rest assured, we will not charge any attorney’s fee for a gas explosion accident injury until we have received a favorable settlement or judgment for you.

If you are looking for a gas explosion injury lawyer, we at the Law Offices of Albert Goodwin are here for you. You can call us at 212-233-1233 or send us an email at [email protected].

Why gas explosions happen

Explosions in buildings and residential homes are usually caused by gas leaks. In the workplace in New York, most explosions happen in a construction site, a railyard, or a chemical or industrial plant. Whatever the cause, negligence can usually be attributed to at least one party.

Wrongful death

Gas explosion injuries are usually severe and fatal, with some resulting to wrongful death. If your family member died due to an explosion, the surviving spouse, children or parents can bring a wrongful death lawsuit. Our legal team can help you get the appropriate compensation due to you in a wrongful death case. These damages can include funeral and burial expenses, health care expenses related to the last injury or illness, financial support that would have been contributed to the family, the value of parental nurturing, care, and guidance to surviving children, conscious pain and suffering that the deceased suffered prior to death, plus interest on the damages, calculated from the date of death.

Explosion survivor

If you are a survivor of a gas explosion, we can help you obtain fair compensation for your damages, which include pain and suffering, medical expenses, mental anguish and emotional distress, physical disability, physical disfigurement, lost wages, and punitive damages.

Damages recoverable in a gas explosion injury case

Your gas explosion injury lawyer will analyze your situation to see who to file a case against and what damages you will be able to recover. It would depend on the severity of your gas explosion injury, the type of medical treatment you need, whether long term medical treatment is required, whether you will sustain long-term damage, or if you have lost employment or had to take a leave of absence because of the gas explosion injury.

Common Causes of Gas Explosions

Most gas explosions happen because someone failed to do something they should have done. The most common causes we see include:

• Leaking gas lines and aging infrastructure. Old cast-iron and bare steel mains, corroded service lines, and improperly installed connections leak natural gas into walls, basements, and crawl spaces. A spark from any source — a light switch, a refrigerator compressor, a static discharge — can ignite the accumulated gas.
• Improperly maintained or unlicensed work on gas piping. New York requires that work on gas piping be performed by licensed contractors and inspected. Unlicensed work and incomplete inspections are a recurring cause of explosions.
• Negligent shutoff and tagging during repair work. When a gas line is being repaired, every step must be performed in the correct sequence. Failure to properly purge a line before reopening it, or to test a repaired connection, has caused major explosions.
• Defective gas appliances. Water heaters, furnaces, ovens, and dryers with defective burners, controls, or safety devices can leak or ignite gas inadvertently.
• Failure to respond to reports of gas odor. When a tenant or neighbor reports the smell of gas to the utility, the response must happen quickly. Delayed response has caused fatal explosions.
• Excavation damage. Construction crews who dig without calling 811 ("Call Before You Dig") and verifying utility locations frequently strike gas lines, with explosive consequences.
• Illegal hookups and tampering. Customers who try to bypass meters or restore service after a shutoff sometimes create dangerous conditions.

Who Can Be Liable

Identifying the right defendants is one of the most important early steps in a gas explosion case. Potential defendants include:

• The utility company (Con Edison, National Grid, or another). Where the cause is the utility's pipe, the utility's response, or the utility's negligent maintenance.
• The building owner or landlord. Where the owner failed to maintain on-property gas piping, failed to act on tenant complaints, or hired unlicensed contractors.
• Property managers. Where the manager has operational control of the building.
• Plumbing and gas contractors. Where their work was deficient.
• Appliance manufacturers. Where a defective product contributed to the explosion.
• Inspectors and code enforcement officials. In rare cases, where they negligently certified work that did not meet code.
• Excavators. Where digging damaged a gas line.
• General contractors and subcontractors. In construction-site explosions.

Injuries Common in Gas Explosions

Gas explosions produce a distinctive constellation of injuries that often co-occur in the same victim:

• Thermal burns. The initial fireball can produce severe burns covering large portions of the body, requiring debridement, skin grafting, and extensive rehabilitation.
• Inhalation injuries. Hot gases and smoke damage the upper and lower airways, sometimes requiring intubation and prolonged ventilator support.
• Blast injuries. The pressure wave from an explosion can rupture eardrums, damage lungs, and cause traumatic brain injuries even without visible external wounds.
• Crush injuries. When walls, ceilings, or other building components collapse, victims suffer fractures, internal organ damage, and amputations.
• Penetrating injuries. Flying debris causes lacerations, embedded foreign bodies, and eye injuries.
• Psychological injuries. Many survivors develop post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression that persist long after the physical wounds heal.

Investigation in the Days After the Explosion

Gas explosion cases require fast investigation. Within hours, the New York City Fire Department, the New York City Buildings Department, the utility company, and the Public Service Commission may all begin investigations. Evidence at the scene — pipe samples, valve positions, meter records, work orders, and surveillance footage — can be lost, altered, or destroyed in the cleanup. We engage forensic engineers, fire investigators, and metallurgists immediately to preserve evidence, attend the joint investigation, and obtain documents from the agencies before they become harder to access.

The Statute of Limitations

Personal injury claims in gas explosion cases must generally be filed within three years of the accident. Wrongful death claims must be filed within two years of death. Claims against the City of New York, including against agencies that may have inspected or regulated the property, require a notice of claim within 90 days. Claims against public benefit corporations (such as utility holding entities in some configurations) have their own variations. The notice of claim deadlines are particularly unforgiving and can permanently bar an otherwise good case if missed.

How Insurance Affects Recovery

Gas explosion cases often involve multiple layers of insurance — utility company general liability and excess policies, landlord general liability, contractor general liability, manufacturer product liability, and homeowner or renter policies. Coordinating across these layers can produce settlements far larger than any single policy. Some claims also implicate excess and umbrella policies that respond only after the primary layers are exhausted. We map the insurance landscape early and pursue every available source of recovery.

Why Cases Take Time

Gas explosion cases are complex and tend to take longer than typical personal injury cases. The investigation phase often runs six to twelve months. Expert reports take additional months. Multi-defendant cases require coordinated discovery across many parties. Cases of this magnitude rarely settle quickly because the defendants often deny responsibility and litigate aggressively. We are prepared for the long haul and we develop the case methodically so that, by the time settlement discussions begin, the strength of the proof is overwhelming.

Mediation, Arbitration, and Settlement Conferences

Most gas explosion cases that reach a fair resolution do so through some form of structured negotiation. Court-supervised settlement conferences, private mediations with retired judges, and structured negotiation among insurance carriers and defense counsel are all common. Settlements in serious gas explosion cases regularly reach seven and eight figures when the injuries are catastrophic and the proof of liability is strong.

Coordinating With Treating Doctors

Building a strong damages case requires close coordination with the client's treating doctors. We obtain narrative reports from physicians explaining the diagnosis, the treatment, the prognosis, and the long-term implications. For burn cases, we work with reconstructive surgeons and rehabilitation specialists who can describe the future course of care. For traumatic brain injury cases, we work with neurologists, neuropsychologists, and life-care planners who can quantify the lifetime cost of injuries. Solid medical documentation is what transforms a sympathetic story into a defensible damages number.

Call a Gas Explosion Injury Lawyer Today

When you have sustained gas explosion injuries, you need to call us immediately. Rest assured, you do not need to pay attorney's fees for a gas explosion accident injury until we receive a favorable settlement or judgment for you. Should you need assistance, we at the Law Offices of Albert Goodwin are here for you. We have offices in New York City, Brooklyn, NY and Queens, NY. You can call us at 212-233-1233 or send us an email at [email protected].