CAMBRIDGE - Parents of two daughters who died in a
Hopkinton house explosion this summer are suing NStar gas, their landlord
and a company that makes gas line pipe fittings.
Heath and Tara Carey filed suit yesterday in Middlesex Superior Court,
alleging that a leaking gas line caused their Main Street home to explode
July 24, killing Iris, 4, and Violet, 5 1/2. The explosion destroyed the
apartment building and left four families homeless.
The Careys blame NStar, Inner-Tite Corp. of Holden and Ann-Marie and
Leonard Pearson of Hopkinton for their daughters' deaths. Heath and Tara
Carey were trapped under debris and suffered minor injuries.
John Wozniak, the Careys' lawyer, believes a defective pipe fitting
caused a gas leak that led to the early morning explosion. Nstar should have
detected and fixed that leak, Inner-Tite should have provided functioning
equipment and the Pearsons should have provided natural gas odor detectors,
according to the lawsuit.
"We know once the meters were changed, the gas usage more than
doubled," Wozniak said. "It just doesn't make sense. It was
summertime. People don't use that much gas then."
The Careys and their upstairs neighbor, Tony Defreitas, said their gas
bills more than doubled after NStar replaced several gas meters in May. The
12-page lawsuit also alleges residents of 65 Main St. called NStar to
complain about natural gas odors.
NStar denies any reports of gas odors or leaks, spokesman Mike Durand
said. Workers made their last trip to the building in May to replace a
meter, he said.
The lawsuit says Heath Carey left his Main Street home four hours before
the explosion to get a pack of cigarettes. He did not smell natural gas.
A member of the Webster family sleeping in a room above the gas meters
was the first to smell gas, the lawsuit says. The Webster family of three
children and their mother left the building and called 911 after they were
awakened.
While Wozniak claims a gas leak is to blame for the explosion, state
officials have given no word on its cause. Evidence is still being tested,
said Jennifer Meith, spokesman for the state fire marshal's office.
State fire officials are concentrating part of their investigation on a
"posilock transition fitting," a joint that connects the outdoor
and indoor gas lines. It is undergoing tests at Massachusetts Materials
Research Inc., a private lab in West Boylston contracted by the state. Meith
would not say why the device is being tested.
Wozniak claims the posilock fitting malfunctioned in one of three ways;
it malfunctioned, broke or was tampered with. The fitting is manufactured by
Inner-Tite. Attempts to reach a company representative were unsuccessful.
"The (posilock) is the primary focus of the investigation. That's
the part that's at the lab. I can only assume there are indicators that this
part failed," he said. "We named (the manufacturer) as a defendant
because the evidence at this point suggests the part failed."
Wozniak did not say what that evidence is and admitted he does not know
what caused the explosion.
"It's going to take a while to put it together, in terms of what
happened," he said.
The posilock fitting is also one of several items to be tested by the
state Department of Telecommunications and Energy, which regulates
utilities. The DTE will test all equipment up to the gas meter and determine
whether NStar is at fault.
DTE spokesman Robert Wilson said there is no official indication the
posilock contributed to the blast, but explained a defective fitting could
cause a major problem.
The posilock seals together the larger plastic pipe from the street to a
smaller metal pipe in the basement of a home or business. If that seal were
to break, a large amount of gas could escape into the building.
"That definitely could lead to an explosion," he said.
NStar's Durand said he did not expect the Careys to file a lawsuit before
the state determined the official cause of the explosion.
"We're surprised legal action would take place prior to the
completion of the investigation," he said. "It's inappropriate to
make any comment on that tragic event until the investigation is
complete."
