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MINERVA ALUMINUM SUED OVER DEATH
Canton Repository
Wednesday, January 9, 2002CANTON ... A worker killed while loading scrap aluminum at a Minerva business suffered burns to 90 percent of his body.
Jeremiah DeNoon's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit Tuesday that accuses his employer of subjecting him to unsafe conditions.
DeNoon, a 21-year-old with one child and a second on the way, was critically injured while working for Minerva Aluminum Co. at its Roosevelt Street facility.
He had been with the company only a month when he was burned Nov. 30.
DeNoon was using a tow motor truck to load scrap into the company's furnaces when a load exploded, covering him with flames and fiery debris.
DeNoon suffered third-degree burns to about 90 percent of his body. He died about a day later.
The explosion was a result of putting wet scrap into the hot furnace, a condition the company knew was dangerous, said Brian Zimmerman, the family's attorney.
The lawsuit also alleges the loading vehicle was unsafe for the job.
"There's no reason for it. It's certainly preventable, at very little expense," Zimmerman said.
He and attorney Allen Schulman Jr. filed the complaint in Stark County Common Pleas Court.
Tod Morrow, attorney for Minerva Aluminum, said he could not comment on the specific details of DeNoon's accident.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated and found no safety regulation violations or any reason to stop operations at the plant, he said.
The agency fined the company $2,500. But it did not label the violation as willful, the most serious category, Morrow said.
"In a nutshell, we believe the allegations (in the lawsuit) are without merit," he said.
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