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American Electric Power is being blamed for a fire that took the life of an 85-year-old Marietta woman last May, in a lawsuit filed by her son, former Ohio Rep. Andy Thompson.
The suit, which was filed Nov. 13 on behalf of his mother, Elsa E. Thompson, alleges AEP did not respond to calls about downed power lines in his mother’s yard after a thunderstorm on May 25.
Thompson alleges the downed power lines caused the fire which killed his mother that night.
He is suing because of negligence, reckless malfeasance and nonfeasance on the part of AEP, according to the suit.
Thompson’s attorney, Jordan Lebovitz, said there will be a court hearing today in front of Washington County Common Pleas Judge Randall Burnworth to determine what the timeline of the case will look like.
He noted they are asking for a jury trial, as well as damages in excess of $25,000, which is the statutory minimum to move the case from municipal court to the court of common pleas.
According to court documents, there was a thunderstorm the day of May 25. High winds blew a tree limb into the power lines which landed in Elsa’s backyard between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. that day.
At 1 p.m., a neighbor allegedly called AEP to report the downed lines. Elsa also called about the downed lines at 5 p.m.
Thompson alleges AEP disregarded the calls, and shortly after 11 p.m., Elsa’s residence at 306 Warren St. caught fire.
“It started on the first floor addition in the rear of the home,” said Brian Bohnert, public information officer with the state fire marshal’s office. “We’ve officially ruled the cause of the Warren Street fire undetermined, but we could not rule out electrical failure as a potential cause.”
He said it doesn’t appear there were any smoke detectors at the scene.
Local fire departments responded to the blaze around 11:15 p.m., but the house was already fully engulfed. The lawsuit alleges Elsa suffocated and ultimately died due to serious injuries from the fire, as well as serious physical and emotional injuries, including fear, shock and pre-death fright and terror.
In the answer to the lawsuit, the attorneys for AEP admitted a call was received at 4:50 p.m. All other allegations were denied.
Lebovitz said a complete investigation will be done before the jury trial.
“We’ll find out what they knew, when they knew it, and what could have been done to prevent it,” he explained.
Elsa, the founder of Bird Watcher’s Digest, died exactly two months after the death of her son, the magazine’s publisher Bill Thompson III, as a result of cancer.
Representatives from AEP did not return calls made Wednesday afternoon.
Michele Newbanks can be reached at mnewbanks@mariettatimes.com.
At a glance:
• Elsa E. Thompson died in a house fire at 306 Warren St., Marietta, on May 25.
• The fire started on the first floor addition in the rear of the home.
• Thompson’s son, Andrew, alleges the fire started because of downed power lines after a thunderstorm.
• He is suing American Electric Power for negligence, reckless malfeasance and nonfeasance for disregarding calls about the downed lines.
• He is asking for a jury trial and an amount in excess of $25,000 in damages.
• A case management conference is scheduled for today to discuss the calendar for the case.
Source: Times research.