Parents still blame NStar for fatal blast; utility disagrees

The day after a state agency released a report saying that the utility company might have violated state and federal guidelines in connection with the July 24, 2002, explosion, Tara and Heath Carey said the findings confirmed what they had believed all along about the blast that killed their daughters, Iris, 4, and Violet, 5.

"We knew it was a gas explosion," Tara Carey said at a news conference in their lawyer's office in Boston. "Everyone could smell gas that night. . . . For them to just keep denying, not admitting that it was, has just been awful."

Late yesterday, NStar officials released a letter that the company's chief executive sent to the state Department of Telecommunications and Energy, criticizing the agency's report for not noting that a separate report the agency commissioned had found that NStar's gas equipment did not fail.

Thomas J. May wrote that "while I completely disagree with the findings in the Notice, I find it completely inexcusable that the Department allowed these documents to be prepared and released in such a way as to create the public impression that NStar Gas was in any way responsible for causing this terrible tragedy."

The Careys are seeking punitive damages from NStar, saying that the company failed to conduct leak surveys and testing for maximum operating pressure, and failed to respond properly to complaints of possible gas leaks at 65 Main St. in Hopkinton, where the Careys and three other families lived. The amount being sought has yet to be determined, according to the couple's lawyers.

"One of the largest reasons we're fighting this case is to make sure this doesn't happen again," Heath Carey said.

Separate from its findings, the Department of Telecommunications and Energy also issued a "notice of probable violation" to NStar on Nov. 7 for allegedly failing to keep proper records of services made at the site. NStar could face up to $200,000 in penalties, and the company can appeal.

Michael Durand, a spokesman for NStar, said the company had no further comment and referred to a statement released by the company yesterday following the report's release. In the statement, the company "strongly" disagrees with the report's findings, and cited the earlier investigation. May's letter said that investigation found "no failure of NStar Gas equipment was involved in causing the accident."

Edward M. Swartz, one of the couple's lawyers, said in a telephone interview after the news conference that the state's findings in the report released this week bolster the couple's suit.

"There's enough evidence in the report that the gas company carries a lot of the blame in this," said Swartz, who works for the Boston law firm Swartz & Swartz. "It was very thorough and complete, and it's helpful to the plaintiff's position."

The law firm is still deciding whether the Careys should continue to pursue damages from the two other parties named with NStar in the lawsuit filed in October 2002 -- the building's landlords, Leonard and Ann Marie Pearson of Hopkinton, and Inner-Tite Corp., a Holden manufacturer that makes the adapter that connects the external gas line to the apartment building.

"I just hope NStar learns from this mistake, because it was a big mistake," Tara Carey said. "It cost the lives of our children."

Eun Lee Koh can be reached at ekoh@globe.com