The Galveston County Daily News

TEXAS CITY — The third round of cases got under way Monday in 2005’s explosions at BP’s Texas City refinery.

Prospective jurors Monday afternoon received questionnaires that they are to return Thursday as attorneys begin trial for the next eight plaintiffs suing for damages they claim were caused by the March 2005 blasts.

The explosions occurred on March 23, 2005, when volatile gases escaped from a device called a blowdown stack and ignited, killing 15 workers and wounding hundreds more. The sound of the blasts carried all the way to Galveston Island, and the consequences included more than 3,000 lawsuits.

About three-quarters of those cases have since settled, included all of the wrongful-death suits. For BP, settling those cases has already exhausted the $1.6 billion the petrochemical giant had set aside for paying settled claims.

At the outset of the mass litigation, 212th State District Court Judge Susan Criss had instructed lawyers to bundle plaintiffs into groups of eight to try the cases as efficiently as possible, while still giving all parties fair trials.

The cases also were scheduled in order of severity, with death cases coming first, followed by personal-injury cases at the refinery. Cases involving off-site injuries and property damage will follow.

The first two sets of cases went in September and December, each lasting a few days before the two sides settled.

The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board has said the company’s extensive budget cuts led to poor maintenance that contributed to the explosions. Alarms and gauges that were supposed to warn of a dangerously overfilled gasoline processing unit didn’t work properly. The agency has said any one of a number of ignored safety measures could have prevented the disaster.