Judge Says Evidence Destroyed in Georgia Poultry Plant Deaths

The Georgia judge overseeing lawsuits brought after workers were killed at a chicken processing plant is weighing sanctions against a freezer manufacturer after crucial evidence was thrown away.

“It makes your client look like they’re not very honest and forthright,” Gwinnett County State Court Judge Emily Brantley told an attorney for Messer Gas, which made industrial freezer units for the Gainesville, Georgia poultry plant.

Six workers died Jan. 28 after nitrogen overflowed from a freezer unit, investigators have found. The gas displaces breathable air and the employees were asphyxiated while trying to determine the source of the problem, according to reports in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

After the deaths, a worker at a similar plant in Stillmore, Georgia, found that a detection tube at a Messer freezer unit was bent and was not properly installed. That may have rendered it unable to detect nitrogen leaks, court papers show. The Stillmore plant worker reportedly photographed the bent tube, told his supervisor about it, then threw the tube away. A new device was correctly installed, the company said.

Messer officials did not reveal the presence of the bent tube until weeks later, during a deposition in the litigation.

“(The supervisor) intentionally took no action to preserve it,” the judge said. “He had a duty to tell him, ‘Don’t destroy that. Preserve it.'”

Judge Brantley said that the company should have preserved the tube as evidence because it potentially shows a pattern of neglect that could impact the Gainesville plant lawsuits. Attorneys for Messer Gas said that the evidence was not intentionally destroyed but was lost because of miscommunication during a hectic time at the company. The judge is expected to rule on sanctions against the company this week.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that the chicken plant operator, Foundation Food Group, and Messer could have prevented the disaster by putting better safety measures in place. OSHA cited the firms and two partner companies for 59 violations and nearly $1 million in fines. Messer settled with OSHA.

Foundation Food has also filed suit against its insurer, Selective Way Insurance Co., demanding more than $2 million to cover losses after the accident. Selective Way has said it is investigating the matter.

Topics Legislation Georgia