Articles Tagged with third party liability

A Pennsylvania woman died days after she was struck by a power line that fell into her yard. Carrie Goretzka stepped outside to call 911 about the line and was shocked and burned by a live electrical wire that fell from trees. Rescue workers were unable to administer treatment until a utility crew came to cut off the power.

Goretzka’s family filed a lawsuit against the utility company, West Penn Power, and its related companies. It contends the companies are liable for Goretzka’s death because utility workers failed to properly maintain the wires that fell near her home.

The family’s attorney, Shanin Specter, says the power line failed at a point where it was spliced. He says workers using a splice device know to use a wire brush to clean oxides from the wires, otherwise overheating will cause the splice to fail.

The mother of a 32-year-old woman killed in a Chicago high-rise apartment blaze earlier this month has filed a wrongful death lawsuit. The suit alleges building management’s lack of a sprinkler system is directly to blame for her daughter’s death.

JoAnn McCoy, whose daughter Shantel perished in the January 8th fire, also claims building management “failed … to warn [the victim] of a fire” and “allowed [the victim] to use the elevators when [building management] knew or should have known it was not safe to do so.”

The fire injured nine others, including two firefighters.

The case involving the 2004 explosion of a water heater in Indiana has been settled for $27 million.

The explosion leveled an apartment that was attached to a Morgan County barn, killing one man and critically burning six of his family members.

A year after the incident, the family filed a products liability suit against the water heater company. The jury decided South Central Indiana Rural Electric Membership Corp., RushShelby Energy Rural Electric Cooperative and SCI Propane LLC were 65 percent liable for the accident.

In 2008, a five-year-old girl drowned in a pool at her after-school program, Little Bridges. The little girl was autistic and blind, and although Little Bridges was fully aware of this, they failed to provide the proper supervision for her.

The father of the California five-year-old filed a wrongful death suit against everyone connected to his little girl’s death, including the local school district. In March he was awarded $400k.

If you or someone you know has experienced suffering from the loss of a loved one please contact McAleer Law today.