Attorneys for a Chester County roofer who
suffered severe injuries when a ladder he was carrying struck power
lines reached a $2.5 million settlement with PECO Energy for its
role in the incident.
Donald Hunt, then 27, of West Goshen, was working outside the
Downingtown home of John and Annette Hamilton the afternoon of Dec.
14, 1993, when the 24-foot laddervator (also known as a shingle
hoist) came in contact with a 34,000 volt power line situated 21
feet off the ground.
Hunt, who along with two other employees of MacNeill Roofing was
re-roofing the Hamiltons' home, suffered severe burn injuries to
both legs, amputations of the toes of his left foot and the index
finger of his right hand, as well as other physical and emotional
injuries and ailments.
Coatesville sole practitioner Albert Sardella quickly brought
aboard Robert Mongeluzzi and Larry Bendesky of Saltz Mongeluzzi
Barrett & Bendesky to represent Hunt as co-counsel. According
to the three attorneys, Mongeluzzi and Bendesky handled the
negligence aspect of the case while Sardella dealt with the
damages.
Hunt's attorneys sought damages for wage losses, pain and
suffering, scarring and disfigurement and loss of life's pleasures.
The set-dement with PECO was reached earlier this month after what
Mongeluzzi described as helpful mediation sessions with mediator
Perry Bechde.
PECO's attorney, Joseph Donley of Kittredge Donley Elson Fullem
& Embick, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
The case against PECO's three co-defendants, the shingle hoist
manufacturer, its seller and the Hamiltons is scheduled for trial
July 2 and Mongeluzzi said there has been no attempt to settle by
any of those parties.
As for the PECO case, Bendesky said the first legal hurdle the
trio had to overcome was trying to change the venue from, more
conservative Chester County to Philadelphia Common Pleas Court,
where PECO is based.
The Pennsylvania Superior Court agreed with PECO's stance, which
was based on the fact that the incident occurred in Chester County.
But the state Supreme Court reversed that decision, ruling that
PECO failed to prove that a trial in the plaintiffs choice of venue
would cause the utility's case any harm. Once the venue dilemma was
settled, mediation conferences brought out the crux of the
plaintiff's case: The power lines were too close to the Hamiltons'
home. PECO's own standards call for lines to be at least nine feet
from a residence. The lines in this instance were less than seven
feet from the Hamiltons' home.
The Hamiltons built their home in 1978 on a plot of land where
PECO's lines were already installed and had the right of way.
Mongeluzzi said the home was built too close to the power lines and
that PECO knew that was the case ever since the company installed
power into the home shortly after it was constructed.
"Most importantly, PECO's own prints, prepared by PECO years
before the accident show the Hamilton residence encroaching their
right of way," Mongeluzzi and Bendesky wrote in a mediation memo.
"This smoking gun document absolutely and unequivocally proves
PECO's knowledge and notice that their right of way was encroached
and their line clearance was compromised."
According to the memo, when the Hamiltons intended to build an
above-ground pool in their yard, a PECO linesman went to the home
to measure the location of the pool. He found it on PECO's right of
way but not close enough to the transmission lines to be a problem,
totally ignoring the 34,000 volt distribution lines which he did
not deal with regularly.
Two engineering experts filed reports saying PECO violated both
its own and the national Electrical Safety Code's clearance
requirements. The experts said members of the general public such
as Hunt have no real understanding of whether power lines are
insulated or not and may believe if lines are placed so close to a
residence that they are indeed insulated and therefore safe.
Secondly, they said that PECO's own employees were uneducated
about safe clearances and how they are determined. The only PECO
employees possessing such knowledge are high-level corporate
engineers who do not go out into the field.
The experts concluded that the accident was caused by the
hazardous proximity of PECO's distribution lines to the Hamilton
home. Had PECO taken the necessary steps to educate its own
personnel about basic clearance requirement, the accident could
have been avoided, they said.
Hunt, now-33, spent four months after the accident in Crozer
Chester Medical Center after sustaining severe thermal (heat) and
third-degree electrical burns to both hands, arms and legs. His
lawyers say he remains in "constant, agonizing, unrelenting
pain."
He required 13 surgeries including skin grafts and amputations
as treatment for his pain and still suffers from bone infections
and weakness in his lower body that leaves his unable to stand for
long periods or to climb, crouch or squat His doctors say he will
require more surgical procedures in the future as well as braces
for his legs. He has not worked since the incident.
As part of the settlement agreement, Hunt's insurance company
agreed to slice a roughly $900,000 lien to $100,000 as long as he
does not make any future claims. Hunt's past and future medical
expenses range from between $2.9 million to $3.8 million, Sardella
estimated.