The family of a five-year-old boy who died after his Lexington home was destroyed by an explosion last April has reached a pair of settlements with four companies they blame for the incident.

Circuit Judge Joshua Taylor approved in a Lafayette County courtroom Tuesday, Jan. 6 a wrongful death settlement surrounding the death of five-year-old Alistair Lamb, and a separate settlement of damages claimed by his ten-year-old sister and their father Jacob Cunningham, both of whom were injured in the explosion. Details of the settlements’ terms will remain confidential.

The explosion occurred the evening of April 9, 2025, after a subcontractor for a firm installing fiber optic cable had struck a gas main near the intersection of 18th and Franklin in Lexington. Cunningham filed suit on his daughter’s behalf nine days later, blaming Empire District Gas Company and three other firms (Alfra Communication, Sellenriek Construction, and United Fiber) for negligence and carelessness.

A separate lawsuit was filed in May against Empire’s parent firm Liberty Utilities by the Missouri Attorney General’s office. 11 cases filed by nearby homeowners are pending across Jackson and Saline counties, after a series of change of venue requests.