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Injury trial related to 2017 Glenwood Springs fireworks display wrapping up

A jury of six people is being asked this week to decide fault and assess damages or dismiss a claim against an Oklahoma-based fireworks vendor related to an incident at Glenwood Springs’ July 4, 2017 fireworks display.

The case of Martin Meyers of Glenwood Springs versus Western Enterprises, Inc. is being tried at the Garfield County Courthouse in Glenwood before Ninth District Judge John Neiley.

Closing arguments from the plaintiff’s attorneys and for Western Enterprises are anticipated Friday.



Meyers claimed in a December 2017 lawsuit that the vendor was negligent in seating him in a spectator area that he said was too close to the mortars used to launch the fireworks, per the national code for fireworks safety.

Meyers, a retired teacher, told the Post Independent immediately after the incident that he was laying down in an area near the Colorado River in Two Rivers Park during the fireworks display when a shell exploded near him, severely burning his leg and leaving an open wound that required stitches.



He indicated at the time that he planned to seek legal reimbursement for medical expenses incurred as a result of the injury.

“Western … wrongfully, unlawfully, negligently and recklessly conducted the exhibition such that during the course of the event at least one of the mortars and/or shells either malfunctioned or otherwise exploded or misfired in such a way as to (cause Meyers’ injuries),” according to the claim.

Meyers seeks a jury award for compensation of medical expenses and costs of litigation.

Glenwood Springs had gone several years without a Fourth of July fireworks display due to the typically high fire danger in the summer months, and in 2016 switched to using the low-profile type fireworks provided by Western Enterprises instead of the aerial type of fireworks.

The city has since ended the summertime event in favor of a winter fireworks display, either on New Year’s Eve or in conjunction with Sunlight Mountain Resort’s Ski Spree celebration.

In 2015, another Western Enterprises fireworks show in Avon malfunctioned and resulted in injuries to nine people, according to news reports of that incident.

Senior Reporter/Managing Editor John Stroud can be reached at 970-384-9160 or jstroud@postindependent.com.


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