Suit: Chocolate factory ignored warning before deadly blast

A Pennsylvania candy-maker ignored warnings of a gas leak at its chocolate factory and bears responsibility for a subsequent explosion that killed seven workers and injured several others, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The family of Judith “Judy” Lopez-Moran, a 55-year-old mother of three, filed what their lawyers called the first wrongful-death suit against R.M. Palmer Co. after the March 24 blast in West Reading.

Workers smelled gas that day and notified Palmer, but the 75-year-old, family-owned company “did nothing,” the lawsuit said.

“The gas leak at the factory and the horrific explosion it caused was foreseeable, predictable, and preventable,” the suit said. “Tragically, Judith Lopez-Moran’s death and suffering were preventable.”

The lawsuit, filed in Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, also names gas utility UGI. Messages were sent to Palmer and UGI seeking comment.

Authorities are still investigating the cause of the explosion, which leveled a building in the factory complex and damaged several other buildings in West Reading, a small town 60 miles (96 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia.

Federal safety officials previously confirmed they were studying the role of a natural gas pipeline in the blast. The National Transportation Safety Board has called what happened a “natural gas” explosion and fire, citing preliminary information from local authorities and the utility about the pipeline's role.

Palmer officials should have evacuated immediately after being told of the gas odor but instead “made a representation to the factory workers, including Judith Lopez-Moran, that the factory was safe and that there was no gas leak,” the suit said.

Palmer,...