Chevron Depot Blows Up Man's House, He Gets Nothing
3 years ago, an oil depot owned by Chevron and Total exploded, ruining Ian Silverstein's house and destroying everything inside. It was Britain's largest peacetime explosion and he's lucky to be alive. To date, he has not received a dime in compensation. So he can get his story out there and put pressure on the unresponsive oil companies, a documentary about his story is set to launch December 11, 2008.
Buncefield: Three Years On [via Josh Spear]
Total accused of ducking blame for Buncefield explosion [Times]
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...and his insurance company is saying (?)...
Watch the video after the link. It shows the house before and after.
There is no disputing the house is destroyed after seeing it.
Not sure how insurance companies in Britain operate compared to in the US, but wouldn't his home owner's insurance (if he had it) cover him and the insurance company would be the one looking to collect from the oil company at fault?
If that was an actual picture of his house on the far left, i really feel sorry for this guy. It was beautiful.
In this corner, we have a hulking monolith and dictionary definition of the term "mega corporation", bursting at the seems with profits going to ridiculously overpaid executives.
And in this corner, we guy who did absolutely nothing wrong and lost everything. The injustice is off the charts here, folks.
If one of us "accidentally" torched a chevron station, think we'd get away with it?
Dear God, man! NOTHING???
That house was definitely beautiful! I hope this guy makes them all bend over for this...
From the article linked:
Earlier this year, Total admitted in preliminary hearings that the blast was the result of negligence by the supervisor on duty at the time. However, it has only accepted liability for properties within 451 metres of the blast on the grounds that damage to property beyond that could not have been predicted.
Claimants whose properties lay further than 451 metres from the site of the explosion will have to prove that damage to their properties was foreseeable. That includes more than 170 local residents and small businesses.
"Oh sure, it happened because our plant exploded.. but um.. we didn't THINK the shit would fly that far, so we aren't responsible!"
If he wants to move to the US, Condi Rice's house in the Washington DC area should be available soon. There used to be a Chevron tanker named after her, since she was a Chevron board member. Maybe the Foreign and Commonwealth Office could contact her for him, since I believe she works somewhere in the US government.
@Oranges w/ Cheese: That shit makes me angry.
I've decided I am only going to accept liability for the 6" beyond the end of my gun because anything farther away than that is completely unforseeable.
@m4ximusprim3: I'll do you one better. "I closed my eyes, so I'm not responsible for anything that happened beyond the actual barrel of the gun."
Two words:
Lawyer
Insurance
Corporation: n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.
-Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)
I wonder if a house blew up next to a Chevron/Total refinery or offices and wiped them out Chevron/Total would be so quick to move on?
That "451 meter" liability nonsense is really amusing - will they agree that if you hold up one of their gas stations they won't prosecute if you get more than 451 meters away?
Homeowners insurance and/or get a nice ambulance chasing lawyer to take the case.
Well, that's what you get when you live 452 meters from a refinery!
/Sarcasm
//Lives near a refinery, but doesn't know how far in meters or feet.
Exxon still hasn't payed up for the Exxon Valdez oil spill. That just got appealed last year, I believe.
Unless homeowners insurance works different in the UK, his insurance should have compensated him. Then the insurance company goes after the oil company to recoup the losses from paying the claim.
See subrogation.
[en.wikipedia.org]
Why his insurance company has not paid him or otherwise dealing with this is the 200,000 dollar question.
@Oranges w/ Cheese: That's their strict liability theory, doesn't necessarily mean the court will accept it.
For all the bad things people say about the American civil trial system situations like this wouldn't happen.
This could be a hot topic (no pun intended), but what was the reason for the explosion? Was it the oil company's fault or was there some other cause? I won't pick sides until I see all of the facts, and by his small story and video, I see no evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that it's the oil company's fault.
@Oranges w/ Cheese: Lets not forget this is GB. Or UK. Or England. Or whatever they're calling themselves now. Whatever.
They are not a litigious society, like we are here in the US. Which means that when something probably should be litigated, the weight of proof is on the plaintiff and against the actual litigation, until proven otherwise. The distance from the explosion site seems to be the catch point.
It sucks in this instance, but in many cases the tort-averse court system in the UK makes our (US) joke of a court system look like a bunch of yahoos.
Hopefully this guy gets some relief, but I can't imagine he doesn't expect this sort of interim result.
You mean this quote in the linked Times article above:
"Earlier this year, Total admitted in preliminary hearings that the blast was the result of negligence by the supervisor on duty at the time."
Or were you looking for more "proof". *rolls eyes and wishes people would RTFA before spouting off*
Is their choosing 451 a bit of dry british humor referancing fahrenheit 451?
of all numbers its quite one to pick for this story.
Is there not a court system in Britain for him to take Chevron to and sue or is George running that country to?
Unfuckingbelievable. To not get any compensation whatsoever after his goddamn house was blown up, what is this world coming to? Do I really need to spell it out for them? PAY THE DAMN PERSON!
I did read the whole article and watched the video. I did not however see the multiple links to the same story. Never noticed the Times link.
This is awful! I couldn't imagine losing everything and then having the responsible parties AND your insurance refuse to lift a finger to help. I really hope this man's documentary reaches millions and either shames (or softens the hearts of...good luck with that) those responsible into doing the right thing and giving this man back what he lost, plus interest!
I know that this is the greedy oil companies and so a different logic applies, but wouldn't your home owners insurance cover this? If my house is next to a restaurant and a spark ignites in the kitchen (ala Vessuvio in the S1 of the Sopranos), burning down the restaurant, my house, and so on, the damages in my house are covered by my home owners insurance, not the restaurant owner.
not that I'm trying to defend Chevron for being dicks and probably making this more difficult ... but ... rationale should still apply even if this is something related to oil.
> Well, that's what you get when you live 452 meters from a refinery!
Storage Depot, not a refinery.
Speaking as a local it used to be all fields around there, but then they began to shrink the exclusion zone to build other things there, despite the protests from the Depot to the contrary. Apparently the HSE only expected a fire, not an explosion, but mysteriously I don't recall their investigation touching into why they allowed things to be built so close. I'm sure the fact that the local council was able to sell the land for a million pounds an acre had nothing to do with it... And yet they still try to cut back on services - so it's just as well there were no casualties.
Much the same as why Fuji were allowed to have a generator slapped next to the place.
No great shock that various nearby things suffered, an explosion in an open space is bad, in amore enclosed space is much worse.
We were lucky enough to live far enough away to only need roof work and suchlike, being just outside the evacuation zone. Which was done by our insurance company - the company they hired wasn't very good, but then a lot of extra ones had been drafted in because of the volume of places needing repairing.
It did, however allow lots of interesting studies into human nature, such as people driving for miles towards the explosion to turn up with video cameras, parents complaining about how their children didn't feel too well after playing outside in the smoke - ignoring the fact that people were told to stay indoors, and other such stories.
Anyway, ignoring all that, you'd think they'd fix it and then it's a fight between insurance companies to get their money back. Or maybe I just have an idealistic view on what the insurance company should be doing.
@LiC: And Exxon is getting a sweetheart deal courtesy of the supreme court that is going to give each of the victims less than $7500 each before the lawyers take their cut. Sign me up.
@I freebase cocaine for a living: I know ... THEY know they are culpable, and they'll eventually have to pay. Why the sham? What theatre! Do they really think it makes them look less guilty if they fight it, then later, grudgingly state, "Although they accept no official responsibility for unfortunate situation, and while their actions do not constitute admission of guilt, Chevron has privately settled the matter with Mr. Silverstein."
@trk182: Storage tanks. Oil was shipped into them by pipeline and distributed by road tanker from there.
I have friends who live about two miles from the site, and when I was a driving instructor I often used to drive round it. What was really bizarre was that it wasn't marked on any maps "to stop terrorists blowing it up"! You could see the damned tanks from the M1 and everyone knew where it was.
Look on Google Earth to see what it was like before, and on MultiMap's aerial to see what it looks like now - it's in the north west quadrant of the junction between the A414 and the M1 to the east of Hemel Hempstead, a few miles north of London.
@humphrmi: Great Britain is the large island containing the countries of England, Ireland, and Scotland. England is the nation occupying the south and east of Great Britain. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a nation consisting of the countries in Great Britain (England, Wales, Scotland) plus Northern Ireland.
England and Wales share a legal system. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own, independent legal systems, although their statute is largely harmonised (precident, known as "common law", is not).
There's no systematic burden on plaintiffs in any of those systems versus the US (in quite a few instances it is more difficult to prosecute a case, in many cases it is far easier), probably the biggest difference is that few if any solicitors are willing to work on a contingency basis.
It is appalling that "we didn't predict this would happen" could be considered a valid defense in any society that even pays lip service to the concept of 'justice.'
It shouldn't matter what they thought the worst case would be - the fact (as I understand it) is that as a direct result of an incident involving and caused by their facility and employees, this man lost his home and and other property.
"The accident was just too freakish so we shouldn't have to pay."
Seriously?
Disgusting.
How could something like this even happen???
Furthermore, how could he not have gotten a lawyer and won a case yet?
@cellardoor (quickly swingin' shut on Bush's term): Where is his insurance on this one? It seems like they should be paying him first, and then they go after the oil company.
@InThrees: Sounds like a great defense if your car accidentally plows into a playground. "Hey, I didn't predict this would happen. I was just going to the supermarket."
Hint to Chevron and Total: your products explode - hence explosions might happen where you store your product. Plan ahead, dummies.
IRELAND IS NOT IN GREAT BRITAIN!!!!!
Great Britain contains Scotland, England and Wales.
Ireland is it's own island, completely sepaprate from the island of Great Britain. So to say that "Great Britain is the large island containing the countries of England, Ireland, and Scotland" is impossible because you are talking about two sepaparte islands.
Nothern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, which also includes Scotland, England and Wales.
Hopefully he gets something out of the greedy and asinine oil companies.