Wisconsin Home Explosion Victims Get $5M

A furnace installation company and its insurer have agreed to pay $5 million to the victims of a fatal home explosion in Sun Prairie.

Twenty-six-year-old Andrew Manley died when the blast leveled a house and damaged several others in November. The explosion paralyzed Steven Slack and injured his girlfriend, Lindsey Stephany, both 27.

Daniel Rottier is the attorney for Slack, Stephany and Manley’s parents, Michael and Pamela Manley. They filed the lawsuit against Service Specialists of Dane County.

Investigators determined the blast occurred when gas leaked from a furnace installed six days earlier.

Rottier says the settlement was the maximum amount of liability insurance carried by Service Specialists.

Rottier tells the State Journal the plaintiffs believe the settlement is inadequate but they didn’t want to put Service Specialists out of business.