Newspaper carrier’s death will be the subject of jury trial that begins today

LISBON - The electrocution death of a newspaper carrier on May 22, 2004, will become the subject of a jury trial scheduled to start this morning against the city of Columbiana by the victim's mother.

Betty Lou Fennell, of Brooksville, Fla., first filed the wrongful death lawsuit against the city and two of its workers in 2005 on behalf of her late daughter, Lisa Kay Smith, but then dismissed the claim. She refiled the case in September 2007 against the city and its workers, Gary Holloway of Leetonia and James Sturgeon of Lisbon.

The lawsuit alleged the two men failed to properly secure a power line they were working on in the 500 block of West Park Avenue and failed to barricade the area to warn the public about the danger. After they left the scene, the wire fell into a puddle of water.

Smith was delivering newspapers and walked into the puddle containing the live wire, causing her death from electrocution. Holloway and Sturgeon returned to the scene to find her laying in the puddle.

The lawsuit asked for $2 million in punitive damages and compensatory damages in excess of $25,000, claiming damages for her survivors, which included her parents, a brother and a sister, and for the pain Smith endured.

Jurors have been ordered to appear this morning to begin the selection process. In civil cases, a group of eight jurors is selected.

Ilan Wexler, the attorney for Fennell, who is the administrator of Smith's estate, noted in a trial brief filed last week that "there had been some discussion regarding lightening playing a role in this incident."

He requested the court "prevent the defendants from commenting or insinuating that the plaintiff's death and/or the cause of the electrical wire coming down the second time that morning, were the result of lightening strikes."

In his statement of facts, Wexler wrote that Holloway and Sturgeon worked as linemen for the city of Columbiana and were called out that day for a power outage on West Park Avenue. They found power lines down and used rope blocks to pull up a long strand of wire to the same level as a short strand still attached to a porcelain insulator attached to a pole.

They left the wire suspended and went to their shop to get out of the stormy weather, change clothes and get rubber boots, the document said. When they returned, they found a body laying in a pool of water with the wire fallen again, also laying in the water.

Emergency personnel were told to stay away from the puddle until Sturgeon could cut the wire at the pole and wrap the wire around the insulator at the pole, a procedure referred to as "cut and run."

Wexler made a point of noting "the wire was able to be cut without affecting service to any customers."

Smith couldn't be revived and was pronounced dead at St. Elizabeth Hospital.

Craig Pelini, the attorney representing the city, filed a motion Friday asking the issues of punitive damages and compensatory damages be tried separately.