Widow of Nippon mill worker killed in Longview chemical spill files wrongful death lawsuit

The widow of an electrician who was among 11 workers killed in a May 26 chemical spill at Nippon Dynawave Packaging’s pulp and paper mill in Longview has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the company in Cowlitz County Superior Court.

Mackenzie Ammons, who was pregnant when her husband, Jared Ammons, died, filed the lawsuit earlier this month on behalf of herself and their children. The suit does not specify an exact dollar amount sought. She is represented by Seattle-based Osborn Machler & Neff.

According to the lawsuit, Jared Ammons went to work early that morning because his wife had a later ultrasound appointment and he planned to leave work early to attend it. He was in the electrical maintenance shop with seven other workers for a morning meeting when the tank failed at 7:09 a.m.

The tank contained white liquor, a heated and caustic chemical mixture used in papermaking that was maintained at about 200 degrees. The spill released an estimated 900,000 gallons, according to an August preliminary report from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board.

The lawsuit cites the board’s findings that Applied Technical Services LLC, a Georgia-based company contracted by Nippon Dynawave Packaging, inspected the 1.2-million-gallon tank three times before the incident — in July 2025, October 2025 and February. The inspections reportedly found severe corrosion and carbon-steel walls that had thinned below safe thicknesses.

According to the board’s findings cited in the lawsuit, Applied Technical Services told Nippon the tank was “not fit for continued service” and warned of a “high likelihood of failure” unless repairs were made.

When the tank failed, white liquor spread across the courtyard and breached the walls, doors and windows of the maintenance shop, trapping workers inside. Two other employees in the shop and one worker in the courtyard were killed, while two additional employees suffered chemical burns.

Court records show a summons was filed for the mill on Sept. 9.

The lawsuit is the second wrongful death case described in the provided material. In August, Sheri Lynn King, the mother of workers Bradley Kyle Covington and Tyler Scott Covington, filed a lawsuit against the company alleging the Castle Rock brothers had just arrived in the Nippon parking lot when the tank collapsed.