Parents file suit in refinery death
Published 2:13 pm Friday, December 8, 2017
Parents of a woman killed in an industrial accident last week have filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
Yesenia Espinoza, 31, of Baytown, was working for Echo Maintenance on construction at ExxonMobil in Beaumont on Friday when she was struck by 24-inch piping “that was improperly rigged and handled by the defendants,” according to the lawsuit filed in the 172nd Judicial District Court.
The suit named ExxonMobil, Bechtel Oil Gas and Chemicals and Echo Maintenance as defendants, saying Espinoza’s death was due to their negligence.
The family is seeking more than $1 million.
The application for the temporary restraining order asks the court to keep the companies named from changing, altering or destroying any tangible evidence related to the incident, specifically the rigging, the 24-inch pipe and instruments used to do the work involved in the incident.
The TRO was filed Tuesday with an application for temporary injunction set for 1:30 p.m. Dec. 13.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating.
Espinoza, a single mother, was survived by two small children and her fiance.