SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) -- An employee at a sugar refinery that exploded last month has filed a lawsuit in state court against a company that was hired to clean dust at the plant outside Savannah.
An attorney for Raquel Islas is seeking punitive damages from Stokes Contracting. Islas suffered burns to her arms that required skin grafts, and she says a psychiatrist has diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Investigators have blamed the Feb. 7 explosion at the Imperial Sugar plant in Port Wentworth on sugar dust that ignited.
Islas's attorney, Joseph Berrigan, said Stokes Contracting isn't responsible for the ignition but is responsible for what happened to Islas because the company failed to clean up and dispose of sugar dust prior to the explosion that killed 13 people.
Mark Bradley, an attorney for Stokes Contracting, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Wednesday.
