Milberg Representing Tennessee’s Impact Plastics Employees Lost in Hurricane Helene

Milberg’s Greg Coleman and family members of Bertha Mendoza speak with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins: October 3, 2024

Update: Weeks after Hurricane Helene, details surrounding the Impact Plastics tragedy continue to emerge. Recent press coverage includes the New York Times, local Knox News, and NBC News, which reported an investigation, “based on interviews with survivors, messages between families and victims, National Weather Service alerts and data, company statements and other material” on Friday, October 18, 2024. 

Hurricane Helene has wreaked havoc on communities throughout the southern United States since making landfall in Florida last Thursday. For the Mendoza family of Tennessee, the devastation is immeasurable.

The matriarch of their family, Bertha Mendoza, 56, was killed after being swept away by Helene floodwaters while attempting to flee to safety. Mendoza is one of several employees of Impact Plastics Inc. of Erwin, Tennessee who has passed away after being trapped at the plastics plant.

Several remain missing.

According to workers, the notification allowing them to leave came too late, well after floodwaters had already swamped the plant’s parking lot, trapping workers within. Employees of the plant, located in a small community in eastern Tennessee, were made to report to work and continued working despite the critical conditions, with several claiming they “weren’t allowed to leave” until the plant inevitably lost power.

State authorities have verified nearly one dozen Impact Plastics workers were swept away, with only five rescued.

From discussions with various witnesses, the company allegedly told its workers, “if you leave the job during the storm, you will be fired.” Several Impact Plastics employees have questioned the order to report to work in the first place.

Impact Plastics denies this, claiming in a statement, “while most employees left immediately, some remained on or near the premises for unknown reasons.” The company acknowledges five workers and one contractor were on a flat-bed truck that tipped over into floodwaters, sweeping them away.

An investigation has been launched by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation as a result.

Bertha Mendoza turned 56 in early September. Her family now plans her funeral.

Attorneys for Milberg are proudly representing the Mendoza family and additional families of employees who passed away, remain missing, or suffered as a result of the tragedy.

The American dream has turned into a nightmare for the Mendoza family. This was a senseless, needless tragedy for workers. What would have cost Impact Plastics minimal amounts in lost profits has cost a worker, mother, and grandmother her life. Justice will prevail.

-Greg Coleman, Senior Partner

Milberg’s Employment & Civil Rights and Wrongful Death practice group teams, who specialize in recovering punitive damages for victims of corporate malfeasance, are partnering to represent the victims.

The Milberg team includes attorneys Greg Coleman, Adam Edwards, Will Ladnier, Luke Widener, Dawn Holt, Lisa Maxwell, Danielle Satterfield, and Jackie Frasure.

About Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman

Milberg successfully represents workers who have fallen victim to the corporate mishandling of environmental disaster incidents across the country, including its recent settlement involving the Kingston Coal Ash Spill of Tennessee.

Milberg has a nearly 60 year track record of holding some of the biggest corporations in the world accountable and protecting victims’ rights. Since 1965, we’ve challenged corporate wrongdoing, set groundbreaking legal precedents, prompted meaningful changes in how big companies do business, and recovered over $50 billion for our clients.