Meeting House Electrocution Lawsuit Reaches Settlement

By Andrew Gorosko

The parties involved in a lawsuit over the death of a painter, who was electrocuted while at work at the municipally-owned Newtown Meeting House on Main Street in July 2004, have reached a legal settlement of that civil action, according to documents filed at the town clerk’s office.

In an October 17 letter to First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal, an attorney representing the town informs the first selectman of a settlement in the lawsuit filed by Virginia Martinez of Port Chester, N.Y., who is the executrix of the Estate of Ivan Patricio Tenecela.

Attorney Michael S. Burrell of Shelton, working on behalf of the town, has forwarded legal documents to the town describing the resolution of the lawsuit.

The estate of the painter sued the town in July 2006, seeking money damages for the man’s death.

The Heritage Preservation Trust of Newtown, Inc, the nonprofit group that operates and maintains the meeting house for the town, also was named as a defendant in the legal action. The firm which was painting the meeting house at the time of the accident also was a defendant in a separate legal action.

In the July 26, 2004, accident, in which an aluminum ladder made contact with an 8,000-volt power line on the south side of the meeting house, Mr Tenecela, 25, of Port Chester, N.Y., died due to accidental electrocution. Victor Saquisela, then age 21, also of Port Chester, was seriously burned. Both Mr Tenecela and Mr Saquisela were originally from Ecuador.

The two men were among a work crew which was completing a repainting project on the meeting house at 31 Main Street, which formerly served as Newtown Congregational Church.

In the legal settlement, Philip Russell, a trustee for the plaintiff, received $300,000 to be distributed to Mr Tenecela’s survivors.

The Hartford Insurance Company was the insurer for all three defendants in the case and covered the $300,000 payment, Mr Burrell said this week.

 In the settlement, Campbell Quality Painting, LLC, of Weston was assessed $275,000 in damages; the Heritage Preservation Trust of Newtown, Inc, was assessed $25,000 in damages, and the Town of Newtown had no assessed damages, Mr Burrell said. Campbell Quality Painting was doing the repainting project at the meeting house.

Other legal actions also had been filed in court in connection with Mr Tenecela’s death, including a lawsuit against the painting firm filed by Mr Tenecela’s estate.

The legal settlement has resolved all court actions in the matter, Mr Burrell said. He termed Mr Tenecela’s death “a sad and tragic event.”

In the lawsuit, the plaintiff alleged that the town was negligent in Mr Tenecela’s death for various reasons. The plaintiff alleged that the town failed to inspect the premises to discover that Campbell’s working conditions were dangerous; failed to warn Mr Tenecela about those dangerous conditions; hired Campbell without making inquiries into its safety record or safety practices; and failed to hire a competent painting company.

Following an investigation, the federal agency that regulates worker safety fined Campbell Quality Painting $3,000 for the industrial accident.

That fine was the result of a legal settlement reached between the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Peter Campbell, the head of Campbell Quality Painting. The firm was fined for three serious violations of the US Occupational Safety and Health Act.