Ottoville, OH – The family of a man killed in a house explosion in 2010 has filed a lawsuit seeking more than $12 million.
The lawsuit was filed this month in Putnam County Common Pleas Court on behalf of the estate of Andrew M. Roeder, 22, a Marine reservist who died Oct. 9, 2010. Kenneth G. Myers Construction of Green Springs, Douglas Beindorf, John Miller and The Ottoville Mutual Telephone Co. were named as defendants.
The lawsuit alleges propane gas leaked into the house on East Third Street in Ottoville over a five-day period allowing the home to fill with gas until the day of the explosion on Sept. 19, 2010. The lawsuit said as many as 97 gallons of propane leaked into the basement.
A propane gas line on the property was severed by employees of Kenneth G. Myers Construction. The lawsuit said Beindorf, a supervisor with the Myers company, cut the propane line while installing underground cable for Ottoville Mutual Telephone. Miller also is an employee of the Myers company, the lawsuit said.
Myers had underbid the project and was more than 30 percent behind schedule at the time the line was severed, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit further alleges that Myers was advised of concerns it was not doing a good enough job of locating existing cable in the ground on a conference call five days before the line was severed. The company faced a $1,500 a day liquidated damage provision if it did not complete the project on time, the lawsuit said.
The Myers company rushed on with the project and failed to locate the gas line from the propane tank to Roeder’s residence before cutting a trench. Myers did nothing to notify anyone of leaking gas after it was severed, the lawsuit alleged.
Beindorf pleaded guilty to negligent homicide and served six months in jail, said James P. Sammon, a Cleveland attorney for the Roeder family.
The explosion took place when Roeder turned on an electric dryer in the basement igniting the propane leak, the lawsuit said.
Roeder, a 2006 graduate of Fort Jennings High School, was severely burned and suffered third-degree burns over 90 percent of his body. His medical expenses were more than $700,000, the lawsuit said.