MORGANTOWN — A man is suing Strike LLC, a Texas-based company, and others for the wrongful death of a young mother.
The plaintiffs, Damone N. Eddy – who filed the lawsuit as the administrator of the estate of Stephanie N. Eddy, and Allison M. Lippert – claim a motor vehicle accident occurred on Sept. 5 that claimed 30-year-old Stephanie Eddy's life and injured Lippert.
Strike LLC, Capstone Energy Services LLC, Anderson Excavating LLC, Micah A. McClain, Addey L. Bennett, Ken Beck and Nicholas F. Ali are listed as the defendants in the case, which was filed Feb. 18 in Monongalia Circuit Court.
Madia
"This case is an absolute tragedy," attorney Sam Madia said in an interview with The West Virginia Record. "A young mother was killed because a Texas pipeline company came to West Virginia and carried on its business in a reckless disregard for the safety of West Virginians."
Lippert was traveling home Sept. 5 on W.Va. 7 after finishing a day of student teaching at Mason Dixon Elementary School and eventually came up behind a flatbed trailer operated by the defendants, according to the suit.
Damone Eddy claims Stephanie Eddy was traveling directly behind Lippert and was going toward her nail salon.
As the Strike/Capstone D6 dozer on the flatbed trailer approached a left curve in the eastbound lane, the blade of the dozer intruded into the westbound travel lane and struck an oncoming dump truck owned by Anderson.
The Anderson vehicle then collided with Lippert's vehicle and flipped over and landed on top of Stephanie Eddy's vehicle, according to the suit. The dump truck then began pouring asphalt into the vehicle and onto Stephanie Eddy's body.
Stephanie Eddy was trapped, crushed and burned in her vehicle by the asphalt and, despite efforts to save her life, she died approximately 30 to 40 minutes after the collision.
Strike chose to transport the dozer, which weighed more than 50,000 pounds and failed to obtain an oversized load permit from the state Department of Transportation, which is required by law.
"This Texas pipeline company failed to get an oversized permit; loaded the dozer’s blade such that it faced oncoming traffic and acquiesced to its drivers’ fleeing the crash scene," Madia said. "I hope this case gets the attention of our state senators and House of Delegate members. They need to read the facts of this case and have a discussion with my client’s grieving family before they consider relaxing laws that pertain to the transportation of large cargo."
Madia said he wants lawmakers to review the facts of this case before they consider lowering maximum levels of required insurance for these types of commercial vehicles.
"This Texas pipeline company needs punished and that is exactly what we have set out to do," Madia said.
McClain, who was a Strike/Capstone employee and operating the vehicle transporting the dozer, continued on after the accident and did not stop to provide assistance or call 911. McClain communicated over his CB that "someone just clipped me and wrecked" but continued on to the Strike/Capstone location approximately 3.5 miles away, according to the suit.
The complaint states that Bennett, who was operating a Ford truck as an escort vehicle also did not stop to provide assistance or call 911. Because they did not stop, law enforcement ended up placing a "Be on the Lookout" for the flatbed truck hauling the bulldozer.
The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory and punitive damages. The case was assigned to Circuit Judge Phillip Gaujot.
Monongalia Circuit Court Case number: 20-C-50
