LOGAN – A Logan County electrocution incident has resulted in a lawsuit.
Cameron Brown, an employee of TAK Communications Inc., filed a complaint August 14 against his employer and several other companies including Cable to the Max LLC, Altice USA Inc. and others doing business as Optimum/Suddenlink.
Cameron Brown's lawsuit stems from an incident on August 5, 2022, when he was electrocuted while performing an installation job at a church in Logan County. According to the amended complaint, Brown did not receive adequate training for electrical hazards despite being regularly exposed to such risks during his employment with TAK Communications. The complaint claims TAK Communications failed to provide essential safety training including Electrical Awareness Training and Hazard Assessment Training.
The incident occurred after Brown attempted to throw a lead wire over brush and foliage using a hammer — a technique reportedly suggested by his supervisor Gary Lucas via text messages — to complete the installation task.
When he did so, he says the wire struck live electrical lines carrying 7,200 volts of electricity, resulting in severe burns and other permanent injuries for Brown. The complaint says another employee from Cable to the Max previously had identified the site as hazardous due to overgrown foliage and live electrical lines but did not communicate this danger adequately.
Brown claims TAK Communications' negligence is evident through its failure to train him properly for such hazardous conditions and its decision to send him into a dangerous work environment without proper equipment or warnings about the risks involved. Furthermore, he says Lee Hall from Optimum/Suddenlink knew about these dangers but still instructed TAK Communications to send Brown to complete the job without providing necessary precautions or equipment like bucket trucks.
The plaintiff seeks various forms of relief including compensation for physical pain and suffering, medical expenses both past and future, loss of wages and earning capacity, permanent physical impairment, emotional distress damages, punitive damages for willful misconduct by defendants Optimum/Suddenlink and Cable to the Max as well as claims against TAK Communications for retaliatory discharge following his workers' compensation claim.
Brown is being represented by Christopher J. Heavens of Heavens Law Firm in Charleston as well as by Greg K. Smith and Barry Marcum of the Law Offices of Greg K. Smith. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Joshua Butcher.
Logan Circuit Court case number 24-C-106