More than seven months since the deadly Imperial Sugar Explosion things are officially moving into the courtroom today.
The fast facts show ten cases have been filed by victims...and surviving family members of the deceased.
To date-- fourteen people have died from the explosion and close to forty were injured.
One employee still remains at the Augusta Burn Center, in fair condition.
News Three's Alice Massimi has been following the story since the night of the explosion and was at the courthouse today as the legal battle began.
Today marked the beginning of what will probably be a lengthy and costly set of lawsuits against Imperial Sugar.
Both sides met for hearings on three issues:
One of them was Imperial Sugar's unwillingness to allow the victims lawyers to talk with Ken Diaz...who at one point in time was the safety manager at Imperial's Grammercy, Louisiana Plant.
The second issue was Imperial Sugar's desire to have the victims lawyers be allowed to depose or speak with people only once.
The plaintiffs argue each of the ten cases they represent are different so no cap should be allowed.
Finally Imperial Sugar wants to make sure all the documents they produce remain confidential.
"I think what we see here is a little taste of what the Atlanta and Texas lawyers style of litigation is. To come to Savannah and run rough shod over people whose families they've destroyed. I think we are going to be before the court a lot of times before this case is over," explains Savannah Attorney Mark Tate who is representing many of the victims.
Tate says more cases will be filed against Imperial Sugar on victims’ behalf.
We did try to get a comment from the lawyers for Imperial Sugar but they declined.
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