Examples of Burn Injury Cases

Louis-Dreyfus Pays Burned Security Guard $2 Million

A former security guard received $2 million settlement from owners of a Stamford building where he was badly burned in 1996 when an electrical panel exploded in his face, his attorney said.

Shawn Arnette, 28, received the settlement from Louis-Dreyfus Property Group Inc. of Stamford for his loss of income, physical and emotional pain and suffering, and future medical bills. Neither party conceded wrongdoing in the out-of-court resolution of the 1996 lawsuit, according to a statement from Arnette's lawyer.

The suit stemmed from a blast and fire on March 26, 1996, in the electrical closet of a building at 24 Richmond Hill Ave. Another guard had dropped the building's spare master key from its hook behind an electrical panel in the closet. The key fell between the panel and the wall, and as Arnette slid his hand along the panel, the key dropped from his hand onto a 480-volt bar, triggering an explosion, a fire marshal's report showed.

Arnette suffered second- and third-degree burns over 30 percent of his body, including his face, hands and legs, said his attorney, Jeff Carton of White Plains, N.Y. His polyester uniform melted into his wounds, fire officials said at the time of the accident.

Another guard pulled a fire extinguisher from behind the security desk and put out the flames on Arnette, former Stamford Fire Chief Ron Graner said. The fire prompted an evacuation of 175 employees from the building, but the blaze was contained within the 8-by-10-foot closet.

Arnette, a former Norwalk resident who now lives in northern Fairfield County, endured extensive skin grafting and treatment for three weeks at the Westchester County Medical Center Burn Unit, the release states. Arnette was unable to maintain his three jobs – as a security guard, driver and deli clerk – through which he'd been earning a weekly wage of about $665, the suit claimed.

Security guards used the electrical closet in the building's first floor main lobby as a storage room for coats and tools, unaware that doing so was dangerous, according to the fire marshal's report.

Arnette's suit, filed in October 1996 in state Superior Court in Stamford, claims that the company allowed the dangerous conditions in the closet and failed to warn or protect Arnette of the risk of electrocution or explosion.

Carton declined to comment beyond details included in the release, citing a confidentiality agreement between parties in the suit. Kevin Tepas, a Stamford attorney for the plaintiffs, did not return a call seeking comment.

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