EAST ST. LOUIS — An independent administrator is suing Citation Oil & Gas Corporation, an oil well operator, citing alleged negligence and an unsafe work environment.
Keisha Simmons, independent administrator of the estate of Steven L. Smith, filed a complaint on Jan. 16 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois against Citation Oil & Gas Corporation alleging that it failed to properly monitor, supervise or oversee the work being performed.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that on Nov. 14, 2017, Smith was working with two co-workers for his employer, Precision Plugging and Sales, on the defendant's EM Fenton #9 Well in the City of Crossville when he was engulfed in fire and burned. He died on Nov. 16, 2017, in Louisville, Ken.
The plaintiff holds Citation Oil & Gas Corporation responsible because it allegedly failed to keep the discharge of oil or gas from Well #9 in a safe area and failed to keep it at least a minimum of 100 feet away from an open flame or ignition source.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks judgment in her favor an amount that exceeds the minimum jurisdictional limits of the Court, plus costs and all other relief that is just and proper. She is represented by James M. Ruppert of Hassakis & Hassakis PC in Mount Vernon and Stephen H. Thomas of Chapman Law LLC in Evansville, Indiana.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois East St. Louis Division case number 3:19-cv-00053-JPG-MAB