A second wrongful death lawsuit has been filed in Gwinnett County State Court against the company responsible for the maintenance of the Foundation Food Group liquid nitrogen system.
The lawsuit was filed yesterday on behalf of the estate of Saulo Suarez-Bernal, a 40-year-old assembly line worker at the plant who was one of six employees that died on January 28 as a result of a liquid nitrogen leak. The estate is represented by Michael Goldberg at Fried Goldberg LLC as well as Jorge Virguez and Keren Barrios at Immigration and Injury Attorneys, Barios LLC.
Like the first lawsuit filed on Tuesday, Messer North America, Inc., Messer Gas LLC and an employee who allegedly performed maintenance on the system shortly before the incident, are named as defendants in the case. This case also names "John Does" as defendants, which according to a press release from Fried Goldberg, LLC, are "possible entities that contributed to this tragedy." These potential defendants may be named following review of documentation of the incident.
"We cannot wait for OSHA and the Chemical Board reports to point us in the right direction because those reports will not be out for months if not years," said Goldberg. "It is important to these workers and their families that everyone who has any culpability is brought to justice now."
Also similar to the lawsuit filed Tuesday, the one on behalf of Suarez-Bernal holds Messer Gas responsible for the installation of the liquid nitrogen machine at Foundation Food Group in December 2020 and its malfunction. It also claims that the Messer Gas employee, who lives in Braselton, was negligent during maintenance of the machine only a day or two before the leak.
The lawsuit seeks "punitive damages", including funeral expenses, for the estate of Suarez-Bernal.
