Suit: Workers told managers of gas odor before hotel explosion

A lawsuit filed by an employee severely injured in last week’s explosion in downtown Fort Worth is suing the owners of Sandman Signature Hotel, its restaurant, and Atmos Energy for negligence, alleging employees alerted management of a natural gas odor, but there was no evacuation or other action taken in response.

Karen Mayte Lopez Ontiveros, 28, was at the epicenter of the blast and was the most seriously injured of the 21 people hurt in the gas-related explosion, according to the suit. She was an employee working in the kitchen of the Musume restaurant located in the basement of the Sandman hotel. She remains in critical condition at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas.

Northland Properties — the company that owns the hotel — and Musume and its owners Rock Libations and SBBC Hospitium are also named defendants in the suit, which was filed Thursday in a Dallas County district court.

“Mrs. Lopez Ontiveros is fighting for her life, intubated and in a medically induced coma, with a low chance of survival,” the lawsuit states.

Lopez reported to the kitchen of Musume to begin kitchen prep on the morning of Jan. 8. Lopez and other witnesses “alarmingly” began to smell strong wafts of “rotten eggs” and experienced a burning sensation in their eyes, evidencing a gas leak in the basement of the Sandman hotel, the suit says.

Although witnesses alerted hotel management of the strong odor of natural gas, no evacuation followed, the suit alleges.

Lopez “and many others were not given proper instruction on protection, and were told not leave the premises,” her attorneys with The Kelley Law Firm said in a news release Thursday.

Lopez decided to finish one more task and return home to her family out of concern for her safety, the suit says.

Before she could do so, at around 3:30 p.m., a blue flame “suddenly and without warning” ignited in the restaurant’s kitchen, leading to the “tragic” gas explosion and causing the first floor of the hotel to collapse on top of Lopez, who was trapped beneath the rubble, the suit says.

A coworker saw the blue flame and told Lopez to run, her attorneys said in the release. Lopez took the “brunt” of the explosion as she was in the “epicenter” of the blast, the suit alleges. She has undergone 10 surgical procedures and is expected to undergo more in the future.

She is currently intubated and is in a medically induced coma with burns covering about 23 percent of her body including her upper right arm, her back, buttocks, and both legs, the suit states. She also suffers from a fractured humerus, a lacerated liver, a lacerated kidney, six broken ribs, punctured lungs and blood clots, according to the suit, which is one of several filed by employees and their families.

There are doubts about whether she will “survive long enough to take care of her growing children,” her attorneys said in the release, and her husband, “Christian Padilla Lopez has been struck with fear and despair over his wife’s immediate future.” Her husband also worked in the restaurant but wasn’t there at the time of the explosion, the family has said.

Atmos Energy said in a statement Friday its internal investigation found no evidence its system was responsible for the explosion. The gas company is responsible for lines outside the hotel. The Fort Worth Fire Department has said its investigation is now focused on the inside, where legal experts say the property owners generally would be liable for any defects.

The Sandman hotel opened in spring 2023 after a multi-million dollar renovation of the former office building;…