TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Azya Thornton on Oct 21, 2024

The family of an employee for Impact Plastics who was killed by flooding caused by Hurricane Helene has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the company, arguing that workers were forced to stay at their posts even when managers knew conditions were becoming dangerous. According to the Associated Press, many of the surviving employees have stated they were not allowed to leave the plant in time to avoid the storm’s impact. The suit argues that Impact Plastics had no required plan to safely evacuate employees even though the plant was located in a flood plain and regularly experienced water creeping into its parking lot. The suit comes after the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) announced earlier this month that it was investigating allegations involving Impact Plastics at the direction of the local prosecutor. Impact Plastics has maintained that it monitored weather conditions and that managers dismissed employees “when water began to cover the parking lot and the adjacent service road, and the plant lost power.”