A man severely burned in a fatal explosion at a plywood mill in Corrigan, Texas, has won a more than $33 million verdict.

A Harris County jury on Wednesday awarded plaintiff Ralph Figgs $33.1 million for severe burns he sustained when an explosion rocked the Georgia-Pacific facility in April 2014. The verdict was rendered after more than three weeks of trial before Judge Michael Gomez and about eight hours of deliberation.

According to Arnold & Itkin attorney Kyle Findley, the case centered around arguments that the companies that designed and manufactured the facility's dust collection and spark detection systems failed to live up to industry standards.

“I think they saw that the industry standards for safety were ignored,” Findley said. “The plant was relying on them.”

According to the complaint, Aircon Corp. designed and manufactured the facility's dust collector system, and Grecon designed and manufactured the spark detection and suppression system.

The jury apportioned 51 percent liability against Aircon, 26 percent against Grecon and 23 percent against Georgia-Pacific, which had settled out of the case before trial under a confidential agreement.

According to the complaint, Figgs, a Georgia-Pacific employee, was working near a smoldering blower when an explosion occurred at the facility. The fire, the complaint said, moved quickly through the facility's dust collection system to the room where Figgs was working, known as the sander baghouse.

The sander baghouse, the complaint said, collected large amounts of dust from the facility's wood sanding operations, and the dust is highly flammable. Although the entire facility was supposed to have functional fire detection systems, the system at the facility failed, the complaint said.

Two of Figg's co-workers died as a result of the fire and five others, including Figgs, were injured, according to local media reports.

Following the explosion, Figgs was flown to a hospital in Houston, the complaint said. According to Findley, Figs suffered second- and third-degree burns on his arms and head, and he eventually underwent six surgeries, which included multiple debridements and skin grafts.

Figgs also suffered a traumatic brain injury during the incident, which caused some neuro-cognitive problems, and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, Findley said.

The defendants vigorously disputed liability, contending Georgia-Pacific was at fault for the explosion.

Jennifer Aufricht, a Dallas-based partner in Thompson Coe, who represented Grecon, noted that the system had been installed in 2004, and, according to testimony from the plant's employees, the system had worked flawlessly for those ten years. She also said that Grecon's spark detection and suppression system was not meant to extinguish large fires.

“My client's system worked exactly how it was intended to work that day, and for the 10 years preceding,” she said.

Faulting Georgia-Pacific, Aufricht said the facility failed to properly clean the ducts, which, she said, had plugging and suction problems in the weeks before the explosion. She also said the company failed to abide by clearly established safety zones, and instead either permitted or directed Figgs and others to work in the unsafe area.

She also noted that in November, a federal jury found Grecon was not at fault for the incident in a separate lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas by other victims of the explosion.

Grecon, she said, is planning to appeal the state court verdict.

Joseph Heard of Houston-based Heard & Medack, who represented Aircon, did not return a call for comment. The press office of Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific did not return a call seeking comment.