C.A. Overturns $150 Million Award in Deadly Explosion Case

Div. Three of the Fourth District Court of Appeal has overturned a jury award of more than $150 million—in an action in which the plaintiffs sought to hold the partial owner of a North Palm Springs power plant responsible for a March 2017 deadly explosion that killed their family member—due to the failure of the trial judge to instruct on a doctrine providing a liability shield to those that hire third-party contractors to run operations.