The mother of forklift operator Jeremiah Spritz, 26, who died in an explosion at a plastics recycling plant in October 2000, has settled a wrongful death lawsuit for USD925,000.

Christine Clark, whose son lived with her, sued Blymer Engineers Inc, which designed a ventilation system at the plant where the explosion occurred. Mr Spritz's employer, MBA Polymers, hired Blymer after deciding the plant would start recycling highly combustible toner cartridges.

As reported by Forkliftaction.com News #9, Mr Spritz died from smoke inhalation. The explosion destroyed a third of the plant, and put 75 MBA employees temporarily out of work.

The San Francisco Chronicle said authorities found a build-up of toner dust in the plant's ventilation system helped cause the explosion. Blymer had modified the system a few weeks before the explosion, but that did not fix the problem, the County Superior Court in Oakland was told.