The family of a man who died in an explosion in 2012 while filling a cylinder behind a meat market near USC is entitled to a multimillion-dollar award from the maker of the device, which had an inadequate warning label, an attorney told a jury Tuesday.
Attorney Daniel Balaban told the panel tasked with deciding the lawsuit brought by relatives of 31-year-old Roberto J. Lasarte that management at Catalina Cylinders knew of the dangers of mixing hydrocarbons from carbon dioxide with nitrous oxide, yet the warning labels on the cylinders were not specific enough to warn consumers.
During his closing argument, Balaban also showed jurors a video that he said demonstrated how oil seeped into one in 20 of the cylinders Catalina made, increasing the chance of an explosion during normal use.
“There’s nothing they can do to get away from it,” Balaban said of the video.
An attorney for Catalina Cylinders will give a closing argument Wednesday.
The explosion happened about 6:30 p.m. June 13, 2012, in a small building housing Lasarte’s employer, NOSWerks, behind Bembis Meat Market near Grand Avenue and Adams Boulevard. Lasarte was transferring nitrous oxide from a large cylinder tank to an aluminum tank that exploded, Balaban said.
The official cause of Lasarte’s death was multiple traumatic injuries, Ed Winter, the coroner’s assistant chief of investigations, said at the time.
Nitrous oxide is two parts nitrogen and one part oxygen and is often referred to as “nos.” The state of California includes it on its list of hazardous substances.
Nitrous oxide is used in the gas used to sedate dental patients and in the racing industry to make cars go faster.
Among the plaintiffs in the Los Angeles Superior Court suit are Lasarte’s father, Roberto M. Lasarte, and his brother, Juan Lasarte, who was working with his sibling and was four to five feet away when the cylinder exploded. Both men were in court for Balaban’s closing argument, along with other family members, some of whom openly wept when the attorney showed a video of Roberto J. Lasarte enjoying time spent with his physically disabled son before his death.
In addition to being present when his brother died, Juan Lasarte will never be the same physically because of foot, back and head injuries, Balaban said.
“He has life-altering injuries from head to toe,” Balaban said.
Balaban said a multimillion-dollar award would not bring back Roberto J. Lasarte, but would make a difference in another way.
“That way the weight of this tragedy does not fall on their shoulders alone,” Balaban said.
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