DeRidder Explosion Lawsuit: $141M Verdict and Settlement

The DeRidder explosion lawsuit ended in November 2024 with an undisclosed settlement, seven months after a federal jury in Louisiana awarded nine surviving contract workers more than $104 million against Packaging Corporation of America. With prejudgment interest running from the February 2017 blast, the total judgment reached $141 million before the parties settled.¹²

The $141 Million Verdict

On April 24, 2024, a federal jury in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana returned a verdict of more than $104 million for the nine plaintiffs. Their injuries included burns, broken bones, and post-traumatic stress disorder from the February 8, 2017 explosion at the PCA containerboard mill in DeRidder. Chief Judge Shelly Dick entered judgment on April 30, 2024, and prejudgment interest accrued over the seven-plus years since the incident brought the total to $141 million.¹³

PCA disclosed in a first-quarter SEC filing that it had recorded $123.7 million in costs and insurance recovery tied to the judgment and interest. The company said it believed insurance would cover the verdict and interest, and that its $1 million deductible had already been used up on earlier settlements from the same explosion.²

Who Sued and Who Was Sued

The suit, Johnson v. Packaging Corporation of America, Case No. 3:18-cv-00613, was filed by nine contractors who survived the blast. All ten victims that day were contract workers on site for a planned annual maintenance outage known as a turnaround; three others were killed.⁴⁵

The plaintiffs sued Packaging Corporation of America (the operator), Boise Packaging & Newsprint (the owner), Boise, Inc. (the parent), the mill manager Eric Snelgrove, and the safety manager Rick Butterfield.⁶

The defense that nearly ended the case early was Louisiana’s statutory employer doctrine, which shields certain employers from tort liability and confines injured workers to workers’ compensation. The court partly agreed but found that no single defendant was immune from every plaintiff’s claims. Which corporate entity a worker could sue depended on where that worker’s subcontractor sat in the contractual chain. That mixed ruling let the case go to a jury.⁶

What the Plaintiffs Proved at Trial

The workers’ case focused on how welding was authorized above a 100,000-gallon foul condensate tank that had not been prepared for hot work. According to court documents and trial reporting, Butterfield had shifted hot work permitting authority out of the safety department and into operations, where workers lacked the training to follow required safety procedures. Snelgrove approved the turnaround without having the tank tested for flammable materials before hot work began. Trial evidence showed the hot work permit itself had been falsified and was not carried out under company policy, and the tank had not been drained or purged as procedure required.³

Independent federal findings backed the picture the plaintiffs presented. The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board concluded that PCA never applied its process safety management system to the non-condensable gas system that included the tank, never conducted a Process Hazard Analysis for it, and did not follow industry standards warning against welding on or near such systems.⁷

How the Case Ended

PCA moved to undo the verdict, filing a renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law, a motion for a new trial, and, in the alternative, a motion for remittitur to reduce the general damages the jury had awarded. Judge Dick granted the plaintiffs multiple extensions to respond through the fall of 2024.⁸

On October 4, 2024, the judge granted a joint motion staying all deadlines for 30 days so the parties could finalize a settlement. Another stay followed on November 4. The parties filed a notice of settlement, and on November 21, 2024, Judge Dick issued an Order of Dismissal without prejudice, allowing the case to be reopened within 60 days if the deal fell through.⁸

The settlement terms were not publicly disclosed. The dismissal closed the last major civil case from the 2017 explosion; PCA had already resolved earlier lawsuits from other workers and families through its insurers.²

Related Enforcement

The civil suit ran alongside separate government actions that did not depend on it. OSHA cited PCA for a serious violation of process safety management standards tied to a deficient emergency action plan; the initial penalty was $12,675, with a proposed total of $63,375 across the inspection. PCA contested the findings, and the matter reached a final order on September 26, 2018 with abatement completed.⁹¹⁰

In September 2022, PCA agreed to pay $2.5 million in civil penalties to resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations connected to the explosion, in a joint action by the Justice Department, EPA, and Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality. Regulators cited nine violations of the Clean Air Act’s General Duty Clause and Risk Management Program regulations.¹¹¹²

No criminal charges were brought against PCA or any individual in connection with the explosion.³

1
KFDM. Survivors of Deadly DeRidder Paper Mill Explosion Win $141 Million Award in Lawsuit
2
Packaging Dive. Packaging Corporation of America Lawsuit Payout – DeRidder Mill
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KPLC. Survivors of Deadly DeRidder Paper Mill Explosion Awarded $104M
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12 News Now. Victims Identified in Explosion That Killed 3, Injured 7 at DeRidder, LA Paper Mill
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Scribd. DeRidder Third Amended Petition
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vLex. Johnson v. Packaging Corporation of America
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U.S. Chemical Safety Board. PCA DeRidder Final Investigation Report
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CourtListener. Johnson v. Packaging Corporation of America Docket
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OSHA. Violation Detail – Inspection 1210358.015
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Chemical & Engineering News. Confusion, Lack of Safety Concern Led to Deadly Explosion
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U.S. Department of Justice. Containerboard Manufacturer Will Pay $2.5 Million for Violating Clean Air Act at Its Louisiana Mill
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Containerboard Manufacturer Will Pay $2.5M for Violating Clean Air Act at Its Louisiana Mill