Pepco is being sued in federal court after a piece of equipment fell and killed a construction worker making repairs below.
The worker, Seneca Eldredge, of Caroline County, was in Prince George’s County replacing insulators on a Pepco utility tower when, on July 11, 2009, a transmission line above the one where he was working fell and he was “squished like a bug,” said Dick Phillips, attorney for Eldredge’s family. Eldredge, who was in his late 30s, according to Phillips, died before emergency help arrived on the scene.
“They weren’t doing something stupid. … It wouldn’t have happened, shouldn’t have happened,” Phillips said. “It really shifts the burden back to Pepco to explain what happened and why.”
Now the family is seeking $6 million in damages after “Pepco’s failure to adequately maintain, construct, manufacture, design, assemble, erect and/or create the tower in question,” according to the complaint filed in Prince George’s County in January. The case was transferred to the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt at the end of March.
Pepco has attributed the incident to C.W. Wright Construction Co., the contractor that employed Eldredge.
“The independent contractor was responsible for how the work was being performed and ensuring the safety of its employee,” Pepco spokesman Bob Hainey said. “Pepco was not on site and was not on notice as to how the work was being performed.”
Hainey declined to answer questions about how frequently the equipment was inspected or the last time it was replaced.
C.W. Wright paid Eldredge’s family compensation after his death, according to Phillips, though he did not know how much.
The woman who answered the phone at C.W. Wright’s office on Wednesday declined comment on behalf of the company. She would not give her name.
Although C.W. Wright compensated the family, Pepco did not, according to Phillips. Pepco’s “negligence” caused Eldredge’s family — including his two children — to lose its primary wage earner, the complaint says, which is why the family is seeking $6 million.
The electricity was turned off while the workers made their repairs, Phillips said. Had the equipment fallen a few weeks later when the power was turned on, it could have caused a big blackout or injured someone else.
“In this particular instance, my guy is killed and squished like a bug,” he said. “It’s hard to think about.”
The lawsuit comes a few months after Pepco came under fire for failing to maintain its infrastructure and causing thousands of Maryland and D.C. residents to lose electricity for days at a time when winter storms hit in 2010 and 2011. As a result of Pepco’s shortcomings, the Maryland Public Service Commission fined the electric company $1 million in December.
