Spokane Couple Awarded $2 Million

Thu., June 24, 1999

From Staff

A Spokane couple injured in an electrical transformer explosion will receive more than $2 million from the Nashville Electric Service, a NES spokesman said Wednesday.

The Oct. 10, 1997, explosion at the then-under-construction NASCAR Cafe in downtown Nashville killed a painter, injured a construction worker and badly burned Don and Irma Wilson of Spokane.

The couple’s medical bills ran to $1.5 million. Even though NES admitted liability in the accident, the city-run utility said it could not pay more than $350,000 because the law limited its liability to that amount.

But the Legislature this year voted to change that law, allowing NES to exceed its liability limits.

As a result, the Metro Power Board on Wednesday decided to pay the Wilsons $2 million, NES spokesman Bill Beard said. The estate of Michael Hickman, who was killed, will receive $250,000 and construction worker Ben Holt will receive $40,000.

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