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Boy was trapped in Middlesex culvert
Source:
Butler Eagle
Written by:
Tom Victoria
Published:
February 17, 2010
MIDDLESEX TWP — The township and the Saxonburg Area Authority are being sued for negligence by the parents of a teenager who was trapped in a culvert three years ago.
Jason and Stephanie Maust, who are township residents, allege their son Robert, who was 14 at the time, suffered permanent injuries from the accident, in which a more than 3,000-pound concrete block pinned the boy off Old Route 8 on March 20, 2007.
In response to the lawsuit filed Aug. 11, 2009, the township, authority and three other defendants as late as Feb. 4 filed preliminary objections stating there was no basis for a lawsuit.
"The allegations were insufficient to establish a claim," said attorney Brian Gabriel of the Pittsburgh firm Campbell Durant & Beatty, who represent the authority.
Gabriel said the authority is not liable for the accident.
"The wall in question was not the authority's wall," he said.
The lawsuit does not mention a specific damage amount.
The Mausts want a jury trial.
Joseph L. Luvara of the Pittsburgh law firm Dickie, McCamey & Chilcote, who represents the township, said Middlesex is not to blame for the accident.
"The township is not responsible or liable," he said.
However, the complaint claims the block was among several that were just sitting in the culvert as part of a makeshift retaining wall.
"The concrete slabs were not fastened together in any way," according to the complaint.
Luvara questioned what "fastened" means and countered the claim by saying the blocks could not be easily dislodged.
"These blocks were interlocked," he said.
Attorney Jon Perry of the Pittsburgh firm Rosen Louik & Perry, who represent the Mausts, conceded the blocks have grooves, but contend that they were insufficient to hold them in place.
"They put them on unsecured ground," he said. "They didn't anchor anything into the ground."
Perry compared the setup of the retaining wall to building a house on cinder blocks without pouring any concrete.
"It was a ticking time bomb," he said. "It was eventually going to fall over."
Luvara pointed out there were multiple construction projects in the vicinity of the culvert that would have impacted the retaining wall.
In addition to the authority's project expanding sewage service to Middlesex and Penn townships, standard road work was occurring.
But Luvara stressed it's premature to assign blame to a specific project.
"It's too early to pinpoint," he said.
Gabriel disagreed that the authority's project impacted the stability of the culvert.
"From the authority's position, there is no causal relationship," he said.
Perry said the discovery process will determine who is responsible.
Both Gabriel and Luvara intend to address the lawsuit's claim that Robert Maust was permanently injured because he has played Knoch hockey since then.
"That will have to be fleshed out through the discovery process," Luvara said.
Perry said he doesn't yet have any details on Maust playing hockey after the accident.
He stressed the teen still experiences back pain and has undergone neuropsychological testing.
Along with the township and authority, the case's defendants are Alex E. Paris Contracting Co. and the engineering firm of Herbert, Rowland & Grubic, two companies that worked on the authority project.
Holy Sepulcher School, which is near the culvert, also is named in the complaint, which states the teen was not accompanied by an adult when he retrieved a ball during a school recess.
While lowering himself into the culvert, the concrete block fell on the teen.
After roughly 90 minutes, emergency crews were able to free him.
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