ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The families of four workers killed in the December 2022 explosion of a fireworks warehouse, plus a fifth victim who survived with severe burns have settled with the company and its owners, an attorney confirmed Friday.
The terms of the settlement between the five workers, their families, Magic in the Sky, and Jacob Dell weren’t disclosed.
The lawsuits were filed in the wake of the deadly fire as investigators homed in on the facility and the company. They later determined the warehouse was not designed to house explosives, and in their final report said Magic in the Sky acquired the space to operate a haunted house.
They said it grew into the waypoint to store and prepare fireworks for shows at SeaWorld out of convenience.
Investigators also noted the lack of hiding places, blocked exits, improper equipment, and poor training the workers were given.
Text messages revealed one of the workers blew the whistle to the company’s Texas-based owner, Dell, shortly before the explosion, and Dell was expected to arrive the next week to clean house.
“This has obviously been a very difficult time for each of the families,” an attorney for one of the victims, Ryan Will, said in response to the settlement. “We appreciate how the families handled themselves… We have settled to the satisfaction of all parties.”
Will continued to call the explosion preventable and said the surviving victim, Lindsey Tallafuss, continues to recover from her “catastrophic” injuries.
Three companies are continuing with the civil court battle, including SeaWorld, which was the ultimate destination of the fireworks.
The settlement of the lawsuit means prosecutors can move forward with a criminal investigation, the existence of which has been hinted at in filings since the early days of the legal battle.
Dell did not respond to a request for comment on the settlement Friday. It’s not clear if they will file charges against him, the local managers of Magic in the Sky who oversaw the warehouse’s day-to-day operations, or no one.
OSHA investigators also settled their case against the company in late January, agreeing to reduce the penalties levied against it for safety violations from $109,375 to $79,000.
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