Wednesday marks a year since a fiery explosion inside the Asian fusion restaurant Musume in the basement of downtown Fort Worth’s Sandman Signature Hotel injured 21 people around 3:30 p.m. that afternoon.
Witnesses recalled an earthquake-like boom shaking buildings that surrounded 810 Houston St. Scraps of broken walls, doors, windows, insulation and other debris burst from the hotel’s first and second floors and littered the streets. Smoke and dust filled the air — and some smelled gas.
Repairs to the historic W.T. Waggoner Building where the hotel has been since 2023 are still underway. Sandman Hotels owner Northland Properties is hoping to reopen the hotel by the end of the year, according to a statement Tuesday.
The company continues to investigate the exact cause of the explosion.
And there are now at least 38 plaintiffs seeking damages because of the explosion, suing the hotel, hotel owners, the basement restaurant where the explosion occurred, and energy providers.
The Fort Worth Fire Department understands anniversaries like this can bring a flood of emotions and memories for those involved, said Craig Trojacek, public information officer for the fire department.
“We'd like to extend our thoughts to anyone affected, both physically and emotionally, by the events at the Sandman Signature Hotel on this day a year ago,” he said. “Healing is a continual process, and we hold you up in prayer during this difficult time.”
Investigation in hotel owner’s hands
Natural gas played a role in the explosion, but the fire department stopped short of labeling a gas leak as the official cause as it’s possible it was the explosion that triggered a gas leak.
The department initially investigated the explosion with help from police, the Dallas Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the National Transportation Safety Board, which has the authority to investigate pipeline incidents.
But after investigators found there was no criminal activity involved in the explosion, the investigation was turned back over to Northland Properties, Trojacek said, and it’s still open.
“If there's something that comes back to show some type of criminality to that, we do reserve the right to solely take that investigation back over,” he said. “But right now, we are not the lead.”
The pending lawsuits related to the crash are also slowing the process down — but not necessarily in a negative way, Trojacek said.
The United States Department of Labor was also investigating the incident because of the injuries to workers, but WFAA reported the probe was closed with no answers or findings due to an Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigator on the case having an emergency surgery and missing months of work. No investigator was reassigned to the case, and the statute of limitations to issue fines ran out in May.
A Department of Labor spokesperson told WFAA that officials would provide more information as they looked into what happened with the OSHA probe.
A spokesperson for the department’s Dallas office said Wednesday there were no more updates as far as the investigation into the explosion and directed KERA News to file a Freedom of Information Act request for information on the issue with the investigator.
Lawsuits
Just a few weeks after the explosion, there were at least 10 pending lawsuits related to the incident. Most were filed in Dallas County courts despite some of the plaintiffs being from Tarrant County or even out of state. Dozens more plaintiffs have joined the litigation since then.
The defendants include Sandman Management, owner Northland Properties, Atmos Energy, Musume, Musume owner Rock Libations, Houston-based Dresser Utility Solutions and other related entities. Sandman and Northland filed a motion in June to consolidate the lawsuits into multidistrict litigation for pretrial purposes.
That motion prompts a state multidistrict litigation panel of judges to decide whether there are enough plaintiffs to consolidate the case for pretrial procedures, such as discovery and deposition. The motion was granted in July, and 192nd District Court Judge Maria Aceves was assigned as the judge who will make rulings on what evidence and motions are allowed during the pretrial process.
Then the cases will go into the separate courts they were filed in for trial purposes if necessary, said Omar Chawdhary with Kherkher Garcia, the firm representing at least five plaintiffs in the litigation. The move doesn’t necessarily provide an advantage or disadvantage to any of the parties involved, he said.
“It's mainly for the sake of ease and simplicity instead of everyone having to do several different lawsuits or the defendants answering 30, 40 lawsuits,” Chawdhary said.
From here, the plaintiffs’ attorneys will embark on discovery, testing apparatuses attached to the building, inspections, and witness and corporate representative depositions for however long the process takes.
Chawdhary and his firm are among the liaisons appointed by the court to coordinate efforts among the plaintiffs and plaintiffs’ attorneys in the case. Kherkher Garcia first represented Tarrant County resident Christopher Medearis and now represents four other plaintiffs, including housekeeper Carmen Hermosillo and Musume employee José Filimon Mira.
Hermosillo, who according to her lawsuit was knocked unconscious in an elevator as a result of the explosion, is still receiving treatment for injuries to her face and brain, Chawdhary said.
Medearis was in a nearby building. He is being treated for injuries on his lower body after he allegedly tripped and fell while running from the explosion.
Others injured include Musume employee Karen Lopez Ontiveros. According to her lawsuit, she suffered burns across her arm, back, buttocks, legs, broken ribs and punctured lungs after the first floor of the hotel collapsed on top of her. Lopez Ontiveros, 28, was put into a medically induced coma, according to her lawsuit.
David Seibolt of Kansas was giving a presentation in a conference room on the second floor when the explosion happened, according to his lawsuit. His injuries required multiple staples and sutures to his scalp.
The damages plaintiffs are seeking range from $1 million to $177 million for medical expenses, lost wages, physical pain and suffering, mental anguish and more.
The lawsuits assert a natural gas leak caused the explosion. Several plaintiffs reported smelling rotten eggs and feeling a burning sensation shortly before the explosion. The defendants are accused of failing to adequately monitor natural gas systems throughout the building to prevent an incident like this.
A spokesperson for Musume said the restaurant’s co-owner, Josh Babb, declined to comment on the ongoing litigation on the advice of attorneys and insurance providers.
Although Atmos Energy said its own investigation showed its system wasn’t involved in the explosion, it hasn’t been dropped as a defendant in some lawsuits. Chawdhary said Atmos still supplied gas to the hotel and ongoing discovery will prove the company is liable.
Atmos did not respond to a request for comment. Part of the company's defense in court filings is that the agreement to use gas supplied by Atmos stipulates the company is not liable for any loss, damage or injury caused by factors like gas leaks that is not caused by Atmos Energy's negligence.
Some plaintiffs also accused Dresser Utility Solutions, which manufactures water and gas utility products, of having defective natural gas regulators that failed to properly monitor and control natural gas levels at the hotel and restaurant.
Every individual plaintiff will be entitled to their own compensation during settlement negotiations or trials, Chawdhary said. The statute of limitation to file a personal injury lawsuit in Texas is two years, so there’s a chance even more people will be included in the litigation.
“We hope that this sends a message to other defendants when you either smell gas, you see gas, you know there's something that could cause injury to several people, you're held accountable for it,” Chawdhary said.
Extensive repairs
Northland Properties is also solely responsible for repairs to the 245-room hotel after the explosion severely damaged the basement, where Musume is located, and the first two floors.
The city of Fort Worth issued a commercial remodel building permit to contractor First Onsite Property Restoration a few weeks after the explosion, and then granted two new permits in October after the initial permit expired.
Repairs include replacing the exterior doors, windows, reconstructing structural slabs, interior walls, stairs, mechanical, electrical and plumbing, according to the permit document.
The front of the building on Houston Street and the side on Eighth Street remain blocked off with construction fences as of January 6. Some side windows are blocked with plywood.
Full cleanup and removal of debris throughout the building is complete, along with the identification of the places that require repair or replacement, according to a statement from Northland Properties. A construction team has begun the restoration process.
Northland expressed its appreciation for the support of the Fort Worth community, local businesses and authorities.
"We are eternally grateful for the understanding, patience, and unwavering encouragement that has been shown to our team members and those injured last January," the statement reads. "We continue to keep all those affected in our thoughts."
Got a tip? Email Toluwani Osibamowo at tosibamowo@kera.org. You can follow Toluwani on X @tosibamowo.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
