First lawsuit threatened over wrecked Mayfield candle factory; company pledges review
Lawyers have threatened to file the first lawsuit against Mayfield Consumer Products LLC, owner of the candle factory where eight people died and many others were injured last Friday night when a tornado destroyed the building.
Amos Jones of Washington, D.C., and William Davis of Lexington said they represent “a big number” of candle factory workers with claims against MCP, although at present, they are only identifying one: Elijah Johnson, 20, a production line worker with eight months on the job who became trapped under a piece of rubble Friday.
Johnson suffered injuries but did not need to be hospitalized, Jones said in an interview Wednesday. Other workers who have retained the lawyers prefer to remain unnamed for now for fear of reprisal by MCP, Jones said.
The workers say they were threatened by managers with losing their jobs if they evacuated the factory ahead of the tornado, Jones said. In the days since the workers first went public with their complaints, Jones said, MCP has compounded the problem by “calling them liars” in news media interviews.
Jones said one of his clients has provided a “smoking gun,” a recording of “words that contradict the position taken by the company. And it’s going to come out.”
“This is not an hallucination,” Jones said. “I think it’s unfortunate that this company has taken such an aggressive and an accusatory and inflammatory — and, we would say, a false take on this.”
Jones declined to release the recording.
MCP spokesman Bob Ferguson on Wednesday repeated his earlier statements that the factory workers were free to leave work Friday if they felt unsafe, with no fear of termination. Ferguson said he hasn’t spoken with the lawyers or seen any evidence from them.
“We live in a litigious society,” Ferguson said. “The only thing I would say is that it’s unseemly they have people posted outside the coroner’s office. We’ve heard from some of our people and their families who have been upset about that. It would be better if this out-of-town lawyer could give our people time to grieve.”
Also Wednesday, MCP said it will hire outside experts to conduct its own review of what happened at the factory Friday, separate from the state-led workplace safety investigation that Gov. Andy Beshear announced Tuesday.
“We’re confident that our team leaders acted entirely appropriately and were, in fact, heroic in their efforts to shelter our employees,” the company said in a prepared statement.
“We are hearing accounts from a few employees that our procedures were not followed. We’re going to do a thorough review of what happened, and we’re asking these experts to critique our emergency plans and to offer any suggestions on ways they may be improved, if any,” the company said.
NBC News was first to report this week that at least four of the 110 workers inside the candle factory Friday said they wanted to leave the building after hearing tornado warning sirens but were told they would be fired if they left their shifts early.
The four told NBC that as many as 15 workers asked managers to let them take shelter at their own homes, only to have their requests rebuffed, the workers said.
Beshear said Tuesday that the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health Compliance will investigate safety measures at the factory, as it does in Kentucky workplaces whenever fatalities occur. He said that review will take about six months and does not suggest any wrongdoing.
Beshear said the state investigation should give people confidence that the state “will get to the bottom of what happened” at the factory.
MCP chief executive officer Troy Propes said Wednesday that the company is “giving all employees $1,000 to assist them in covering short-term financial needs and will continue to provide additional support to our employees and our beloved community.”
Propes, whose family owns MCP, said the company will someday reopen in Graves County.
“I am committed to rebuilding in Mayfield/Graves County, and we are confident that over the long term will bring back 100 percent of our jobs,” Propes said.
This story was originally published December 15, 2021 at 11:32 AM.
