A circuit court in Pope County ruled on March 12, 2014, that Entergy would be a defendant in lawsuits stemming from the 2013 Easter Sunday incident that left seven people injured and one person dead, according to a news release on Thursday (March 20).
On Easter Sunday morning in 2013, Entergy’s Nuclear One Facility near Russellville attempted to use a crane to lift and move a turbine generator stator weighing more than 1 million pounds, according to the news release.
The crane suffered a “catastrophic failure” and collapsed, leading to seven injuries and one death, the release states.
The man killed was named Wade Walters. Another person who was injured, identified as Jess Clayton, filed a lawsuit in Pope County Circuit Court alleging Entergy and several of the contractors it hired were “negligent and reckless,” according to the release.
The estate of Wade Walters filed a similar lawsuit in the same court.
On August 1, 2013, Entergy filed a motion with the court to dismiss it as a defendant. They claimed that Clayton and Walters were its employees and, therefore, barred from launching suit against Entergy, according to the news release.
The court ruled on March 12, 2014, that Clayton and Walters were not employees of Entergy, and the lawsuits could proceed, making Clayton and the estate of Walters entitled to sue Entergy for damages.
