CHARLESTON – The estate of prominent Charleston attorney Sean McGinley has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against AEP and an auto auction company following his June death in a traffic accident on Interstate 79.
Ana G. Marino, McGinley’s wife and personal representative of his estate, filed the complaint October 6 in Kanawha Circuit Court against American Electric Power Co. Inc., AEP Kentucky Power Company, AEP Transmission LLC, AEP West Virginia Transmission Company Inc., Mountain State Auto Auction Inc. and Capital City Auto Auction Inc.
McGinley’s estate includes Marino, sons Liam and Colin, sister Molly M. Han and parents Patrick C. McGinley and Kathleen M. Logan.
In the complaint, Marino says an AEP pole digger truck – a 2006 International single unit three-axle truck – was traveling north in I-79 on June 3 when it went into the median, entered the southbound lane and crashed into the car driven by McGinley, who was 55 at the time of his death. He was returning to Charleston from a hearing in Morgantown.
The truck was being driven to Shinnston by an employee of Mountain State Auto Auction as an agent for the other defendants.
“Defendants never should have authorized and directed their agent or employee to drive the truck on a public highway because of its poor condition,” the complaint states. “Defendants consciously conspired and deliberately pursued a common plan or design to commit a tortious act or omission, which was the proximate cause of Sean Patrick McGinley’s death. Defendants knew or should have known that the operation of the truck on public highways would endanger the lives of anyone driving on the highway.”
Marino says the decision to allow the truck on the highway reflects a “conscious, reckless and outrageous indifference to the health, safety and welfare of persons traveling on the highway.” She said the defendants should have known the truck could have been made safe for travel with relatively minimal expense.
“Through this litigation, the family of Sean Patrick McGinley will make a record of defendants’ disregard of their duties to ensure the truck was safe to travel on the public highways, will establish what defendants should have done to avoid this tragic death, and finally will seek to hold defendants fully accountable for the losses suffered, through a substantial award of compensatory and punitive damages, in the hope that no other family is forced to endure a similar preventable and senseless death,” the complaint states.
The complaint also says AEP’s vehicle notification maintenance kept on the truck noted it was not drivable on May 24, just 10 days before the collision. Two days later, an AEP pick-up authorization form noted it was drivable. But, the complaint says no information is available showing what maintenance, if any, make it drivable in those two days.
Other documents show the truck was “going to auction,” but no record of a pre-auction safety and maintenance checklist are available. It also isn’t clear if the driver of the truck conducted a safety inspection of the vehicle before it was driven June 3.
“The pre-trip inspection would have revealed that this truck had been poorly maintained and that its tires in particular were in poor condition, worn, mismatched and grossly underinflated,” the complaint states, adding that the tires were made by different manufacturers and were anywhere from 10 to 16 years old each. They also were grossly underinflated.
“Shortly after passing the rest area near mile marker 48 and traveling in the left late, the truck driver heard a loud bang coming from the left front end of the truck,” the complaint states, quoting a statement the driver gave to State Police. “The truck driver stated he was not sure at the time whether the loud bang was caused by the driver’s side tire blowing out, but whatever the problem was, the truck veered to the left and entered the median.
“The truck driver claims he attempted to turn the truck, but he was unable to do so. Whether or not the truck driver attempted to apply his vehicle’s brakes is not mentioned in his statement. The truck continued careening through the median for approximately 180 yards before crossing into the southbound lane and crashing into the car driven by Sean Patrick McGinley.”
The collision occurred at 4:49 p.m. Emergency personnel said McGinley was dead at the scene.
“The left and front of the car driven by Sean Patrick McGinley was horrifically demolished, and the truck rested on its side leaning against the guardrail and the hillside,” the complaint states. “The enormous force of the collision between the truck and Sean Patrick McGinley’s vehicle caused the truck’s front axle to separate from the rest of the truck.”
The complaint says tire marks showed no indication the truck braked or steered away from the soundbound lanes.
“The data from the car being driven by Sean Patrick McGinley reveals that prior to the collision, he saw the truck hurtling into the median and, accordingly, he took defensive maneuvers, braking his own vehicle and steering to the right berm,” the complaint states. “Within six seconds of the collision, Sean Patrick McGinley had decelerated from 67 miles per hour to 14 miles per hour at the time of the violent impact.”
His estate seeks compensation for the personal injuries he suffered prior to his death, including the physical and mental pain and suffering, fright, shock and sheer terror he experienced while conscious; sorrow, mental anguish and solace; loss of future income; loss of services, protection, care and assistance; ambulance, medical and funeral expenses and other damages. The estate also seeks punitive damages as well as other relief.
McGinley’s estate is being represented by Tim DiPiero, Lonnie Simmons and Robert Bastress III, his partners at DiPiero Simmons McGinley & Bastress PLLC in Charleston. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Joanna Tabit.
Following his death, fellow attorneys praised McGinley.
"Sean was family to us," Dante diTrapano told The West Virginia Record. "My dad hired Sean right out of law school and treated him like a son and, therefore, he was my brother. He was a brilliant lawyer and an amazing person that will be missed by everyone who was blessed to know him."
DiPiero said McGinley was a brilliant attorney and a family man.
"He was just all-around a superb person," DiPiero said on MetroNews’ Talkline program.
DiPiero said McGinley loved spending time with his family and they would schedule work things around games and practices so that McGinley could participate in his son's sports.
“He’s just a wonderful person who cared about justice, cared about his family, our firm. He was just a great friend and a great human being,” DiPiero said on Talkline. “It’s hard for me to think of him as being gone right now.”
McGinley had been working as an attorney for decades. He joined DiPiero in 1995. He grew up in Morgantown and went to Keble College at Oxford University, where he received his law degree in 1990. He also served as a law clerk at the West Virginia Supreme Court for three years and also clerked for Judge Charles Haden in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.
He also coached youth baseball and basketball.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 21-C-899
