The widow of a New Boston, Texas man who was electrocuted while repairing Internet lines over Interstate 30 has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Vyve broadband.
Paul Siler was using a bucket truck to work on a line that crosses I-30 near Hooks, Texas when the truck made contact with a high voltage power line on October 14, 2014.
A complaint filed in the Texarkana Division of the Eastern District of Texas Federal Court accuses Siler’s employer at the time, Vyve Broadband, of negligence for:
- Failing to provide a safe workplace for Mr. Siler;
- Failing to provide rules and regulations for the safety of its employees, including Mr. Siler;
- Failing to furnish Mr. Siler and the Defendant’s other employees with reasonably safe machinery or tools for the work occurring at the time ofthe occurrence in question;
- Failing to select careful and competent employees who are directing and/or requiring the work being performed at the time of the occurrence in question in an extremely dangerous, unsafe, and hazardous environment;
- Requiring its employees to work unreasonably near electrically energized high-voltage conductors;
- Failing to have policies and/or enforce policies requiring its employees to work around or near energized high-voltage conductors only in conformity with Chapter 752 of the TEXAS HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE;
- Failing to have policies and/or enforce policies ensuring no employee approaches or takes any conductive object to any electrically energized overhead power lines and parts in violation of C.F.R. 191O.268(b)(7);
- Failing to have policies and/or enforce policies regarding first aid training, including instruction in artificial respiration;
- Failing to develop, submit, implement, and execute an adequate traffic control plan for the work in question; J.
- Failing to notify SWEPCO of the work intended to be performed prior to commencement of the work;
- Failing to notify the Texas Department of Transportation of the work intended to be performed prior to the commencement of the work;
The complaint asks for punitive damages, damages for loss of companionship, damages for mental anguish and loss of inheritance and court costs
The case, filed by Texarkana law firm Langdon Davis and Dallas lawyer Frank Branson, has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder.
