On July 11, 2004, Mike Melton, an employee of Riley Industrial Services, a gas tank cleaning services company, was cleaning a “drain sump tank,” the toxic waste catch basin at EnCana’s natural gas plant near Moab, Utah, when an explosion occurred, as a result of EnCana’s violation of OSHA’s requirements to properly “lock out” and “tag” gas valves before opening the tanks. The Insider Exclusive will show proof of how EnCana falsely filed the OSHA permit, claiming that the “lock out/tag out” had occurred when it had not. As a result, Mike Melton suffered severe burns on his hands, wrists, and around his face, burning his ears, neck and hair (30% hearing loss). Mike has also developed an extreme case of CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome) in his hands and arms. He now can’t use his hands in any type of work. The Insider Exclusive will show you how Mike’s lawyer, Kent Spence, took on EnCana and Mike’s former employer when they tried to blame Mike for their mistakes. The jury found EnCana 100% responsible, and after Kent Spence asked the jury for $21 million actual damages and $100 million in punitive damages, EnCana made a last ditch effort to avoid financial catastrophe with a final offer outside the courtroom doors.
Kent W. Spence is a third generation Wyomingite who was born and raised in Riverton, Wyoming. Kent was a carpenter until he was age 24 when he went to University of Montana and received his undergraduate degree in Philosophy in 1982. He received his law degree from Mercer University, Walter F. George School of Law in Macon, Georgia in 1986. Thereafter Kent worked at The Spence Law Firm, LLC and has been a partner in the firm since 1995. He is a trial lawyer specializing in personal injury, wrongful death, civil rights and criminal defense. He has had numerous multi-million dollar settlements and jury trial verdicts, in oil field and construction injury, wrongful death, civil rights, product liability, trucking and medical malpractice cases.
Kent is past President of the Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association for the 2004-5 term and is a permanent board member. He and his partners remain active in the leadership of Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association, preserving the right to justice for Wyoming people. Kent twice attended Western Trial Advocacy Institute, founded by Gerry Spence and the late Wyoming Supreme Court Justices, Robert Rose and Joseph Cardine. Kent also attended Gerry Spence’s thirty-day long Trial Lawyers College in 1995 and has been on the faculty from that time to the present. From 2005 to the present Kent has been a Board member of the Trial Lawyers College (TLC).
Since 1995 Kent has been active as one of the Board of Directors of LAW (Lawyers and Advocates of Wyoming), a not for profit law firm focused on social cause cases and founded by the partners of The Spence Law Firm, LLC. Kent is a member of Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association, American Trial Lawyers Association, The American Association for Justice, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Wyoming Bar Association, Teton County Bar Association, Academy of Catastrophic Injury Attorneys, Public Justice, and Board of Directors of Chief Washakie Foundation (Education for Native Americans on the Wind River Indian Reservation and preserving Indian culture and language).
The Spence Law Firm is made up of eight partners with combined legal experience of over 200 years, dedicated to the fight for the rights of the injured. Each partner has developed extensive knowledge and expertise in one or more of the practice areas and specialties of the firm. The firm represents people who have suffered injuries at the workplace, during recreational activities, or in automobile, trucking, railroad or aviation accidents. The Spence Law Firm takes legal action based on products liability for injury or loss caused by defective products – equipment, toys, medical prostheses, pharmaceuticals, household products, etc. The firm represents people who are the victims of toxic exposures (poisoning of the air, water, soil, workplace, etc.), employment discrimination, and bad faith execution of contracts by insurance companies, business entities, and service providers.
You can contact Kent Spence at 800-967-2117, or www.spencelawyers.com