![]() ![]() " were injured and killed as a result of the inadequate and negligent construction of the Home Depot building they entered," states the lawsuit. In the high-speed winds of a tornado, not only are these roofs easily torn off, but consequently, the rest of the building falls apart, causing "wall panels fall like dominoes," according to the Kansas City Star. Consequently, the Joplin woman is now accusing the store of shoddy building practices and negligence that contributed to the deaths of her loved ones.Īlthough the retailer's lawyers have classified the storm as an "act of God" that precludes them from liability in related deaths, complaints have been levied at the store's "tilt-up wall" construction methods, where walls are held up and supported by lightweight roofs. During the storm, though, the Home Depot collapsed, killing her family. ![]() The Kansas City Star reports that during the 2011 tornado, the Joplin resident, along with her husband and two children, took refuge in a Home Depot store. The effects of that catastrophe can still be felt today, particularly for one Joplin, Missouri, woman, who has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a local Home Depot after her family was killed in the storm. req.As local residents likely remember all too well, back in May 2011, an outbreak of devastating tornadoes tore through the South and Midwest, killing nearly 200 people, destroying countless homes and businesses and racking up billions of dollars in property damages. Their co-defendant, Casco Diversified Corp., which designed the store, said a 10-year statute of limitations bars the wrongful death suit because store construction was completed in 2001. Home Depot called the tornado an “act of God.” In their response to the complaint, Home Depot USA and the property owner, HD Development of Maryland, Inc., denied the allegations, the Globe reports. Originally filed in Jasper County Circuit Court, the suit was removed to federal court last month at Home Depot’s request. “What we’ve said all along about building the reinforced room is that we don’t hold our facilities out to be storm shelters, but we felt it was appropriate given the events of the past at this store and the sentiment of the community.’’ Stephen Holmes, a spokesman for Home Depot, told the newspaper.Īs to the Housel claim, he continued, “I’d say that the filing of this lawsuit in no way lessens our profound sadness about the lives that were lost due to this terrible tornado or our compassion for the families that experienced those losses,’’ The store at issue in the suit now has an internal shelter, unlike other Home Depots, the Globe reports. Since the Joplin tornado in May 2011, engineering groups have recommended that big-box stores include internal storm shelters. Nearly 30 people who made it to the store’s training room survived because the wall that collapsed there fell outward. Housel’s family and the store worker were killed by an inward-falling panel. Of the 73 panels that formed the walls, 63 fell, some inward and some outward, the Globe reports. ![]() The suit contends that the 100,000-pound concrete panels that formed the walls of the building were too easily toppled. Eight people in the Home Depot building died, the Associated Press notes. The tornado, which destroyed much of the town, reportedly blasted past within about 400 feet of the building, with winds circling at some 165 mph. Housel’s husband and children died, along with a store employee who let them in and was directing them to a training room, when the roof blew off and a wall collapsed, the suit says. The suit also says the store lacked an adequate room in which to take shelter in the tornado-prone area, according to the Joplin Globe. ![]() Image from Shutterstock.Ī Missouri woman whose husband and two young children died when they took shelter from a massive Joplin tornado at a local Home Depot in 2011 has filed a wrongful death suit against the store, the company that designed it and the property owner.Įdie Howard Housel contends that the defendants were negligent in constructing a big-box building with walls that too easily toppled and a roof that wasn’t adequately connected to the walls. ![]()
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