COUPLE FILES SUIT IN HOUSE EXPLOSION
Author(s): Scott W. Helman,
Globe Staff Correspondent Date: October 4, 2002 Page: B2 Section: Metro/Region
Heath and Tara Carey, the Hopkinton couple whose
two daughters were crushed to death when the family's apartment building was
leveled by an early-morning explosion this summer, filed suit in Middlesex
Superior Court yesterday, saying their landlord and NStar Gas Co. failed to
ensure that the building's natural gas system was functioning safely and
properly.
The suit also names Inner-Tite Corp., a Holden
manufacturer that makes an adapter that was used to connect the external gas
line to the apartment building. Authorities have not yet pinpointed the cause of
the July 24 explosion that killed Iris Carey, 4, and Violet Carey, 5, as they
slept side by side. But fire officials at the scene said the blast was probably
caused by a natural gas leak in the basement of the downtown Hopkinton building,
which housed four apartments.
None of the 10 others who lived in the Main
Street building was seriously injured in the explosion.
The Careys, who are seeking unspecified
damages, say in the civil suit that the building owners, Leonard and Ann Marie
Pearson of Hopkinton, neglected to keep the apartment building "reasonably
safe and free from foreseeable hazards."
John Wozniak, the Careys' attorney, said
Leonard Pearson was not an attentive landlord, failing to periodically inspect
the natural gas infrastructure and do general upkeep on the building.
With four families living there, Wozniak said,
Pearson had an obligation to install natural gas detectors.
"It's one thing to have an old building,
but the things within the building that needed to be addressed weren't,"
Wozniak said.
The Pearsons' lawyer, Bob Flynn, dismissed the
assertion that Leonard Pearson was a negligent landlord, saying the explosion
was probably caused by recent gas work done on the property.
"The problem was really caused by things
beyond his knowledge and control," Flynn said. "I think that will
probably become clear quickly."
Flynn added that the Pearsons knew the Carey
family, which he said may have led to the young couple living in the building.
The Pearsons, he said, "were personally
devastated by the loss."
NStar, which provided natural gas to the
building, replaced meters on the property on March 6 and on May 23, according to
the suit. After residents complained of gas odors following the May 23 work, the
suit says, NStar maintained that it had repaired the source of a leak.
But at 1:41 a.m. on July 24, a 15-year-old
tenant of the building was awakened by a loud noise coming from the basement,
and he immediately got his family outside after smelling natural gas, according
to the suit. Seconds later, the building exploded, heaving the top floor down to
street level.
Before escaping from the house herself, Tara
Carey heard one of her daughter's last gasps for air.
Wozniak said it's unclear exactly what went
wrong with the building's gas equipment or gas line, but he said there are
indications that the meter replacement work somehow went awry.
NStar spokesman Mike Durand said the company
believes it's inappropriate to comment specifically on the explosion until the
investigation is concluded.
"The state fire marshal's office hasn't
completed its investigation, and we're surprised that legal action would be
initiated prior to the state fire marshal determining a cause," he said.
Meanwhile, the Careys, currently living with
Tara Carey's mother in Milford, are struggling to put their lives back together.
Though the couple has little money, Heath Carey, faced with the sudden loss of
his young family, is now looking to reverse a vasectomy he recently underwent, a
decision he never thought he would have to make, Wozniak said.
"Their life was what they wanted it to
be," Wozniak said. "They had two lovely daughters. They were a family.
All that's now gone."
Iris and Violet Carey were buried in a single
white casket in Milford's Vernon Grove Cemetery.
The state fire marshal's office, in conjunction
with the state Department of Telecommunications and Energy, is actively
investigating the case, but there is no anticipated date of completion, said
Jennifer Meith, a spokeswoman for state Fire Marshal Stephen Coan.
"They still have a lot more work and
examining of the evidence and the equipment they took from the building to
do," she said.
The Careys had asked to have their own
specialists present during the state investigation, a request denied by a
Worcester Superior Court judge in August.
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