Unanswered questions in Lincoln home explosion center around insurance, multi-million dollar tort claim

Over a year after the devastating explosion that rocked a quiet south Lincoln neighborhood, some people are still repairing damages to their home.

Many neighboring houses are still fixing damage caused by the blast that destroyed the home of Jim and Jeanne Jasa in august of 2017. 

And some have had better luck with their insurance than others.

One such person is Christy Dempsey.

Her home is less than one hundred yards from the scene of the explosion and suffered considerable damage.

“For us, the damage included, it knocked out all of our windows, all of the drywall had to be replaced, the fence had to be repaired, it was blown out. We were lucky our garage door was open. My oldest was going to work on his car so he had it open,” said Christy Dempsey.

One year later, they are still making repairs, but are almost done.

Her homeowners insurance helped a lot in their clean up efforts over the last year.

Having covered most of the damage, the Dempsey family is incredibly happy with how things have worked out for them.

Some of her neighbors have not been so lucky.

“I have heard of folks having various issues because they had maybe made a claim earlier and then they had this catastrophic claim later. I have seen additional work trucks still around the neighborhood,” said Dempsey.

One neighbor, who did not want to be on camera, said their insurance went up three hundred dollars because their home was now considered to be in a “hazardous area.”

Another big questions is what will come of a multi–million dollar tort claim that was filed on behalf of Jeanne Jasa.

Brian Jorde is representing the Jasa estate – which is seeking more than $4 million in damages for what they call negligence by the city and Black Hills Energy that led to the death of the mother.

Jorde says Thursday’s announcement by officials that the explosion was a murder-suicide carried out by Jim Jasa is simply an opinion, and that the family will continue forward with the claim.

As for whether the Jasa family itself could be held liable, if it truly was a criminal act by Jim Jasa, Jorde says his kids won’t have to pay.

“If it’s an intentional act that caused the explosion, homeowner’s insurance would be available to cover some claims,” Jorde said.

“There’s not going to be enough to cover all the claims, and so the individual homeowners that have the damage could make claims against their own insurance company.”

As for reaction to the now murder–suicide, Christy says it only confirms what many in the area have thought for a while.

“I don’t think anybody in the neighborhood is terribly surprised by it in that rumors had been floating around and seeing the investigation go on for a period of time,” she said. 

Christy says despite the devastation of the explosion, it has brought the community closer together as they all continue to support each other.