ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 6, 1997 TAG: 9702060050
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK AND MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITERS
Edward Bowden could only watch helplessly as his 15-year-old brother died in an electrified pool of water during a fishing trip on the James River.
Seven months later, Bowden is taking action - claiming in a $500,000 lawsuit that Eric Bowden's death was caused by James River Limestone Co., which installed a pump with faulty wiring that turned a popular fishing hole into a death trap.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Roanoke Circuit Court, Bowden alleged that the mining company's negligence caused him emotional distress.
"This brother had to watch his little brother, before his own eyes and over a period of several minutes, just being electrocuted to death," said Brent Brown, a Roanoke lawyer who filed the suit.
The Bowden brothers and a few friends were fishing on a Sunday morning, July 21, on the James River in Botetourt County, near a limestone processing plant formerly owned by James River Limestone Co. The company was purchased by Global Stone Inc. in June.
The group had signed in with a security guard and was allowed to cross company property to the river, apparently a common practice. Eric Bowden was fishing near an electric pump used to move water to the plant when he slipped off a rock into the water and began screaming, according to the lawsuit.
Edward Bowden, 22, and several others tried to pull him out but were shocked when they touched him. Eric Bowden was pronounced dead a short time later at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
The suit filed Wednesday is not a wrongful death action on behalf of Eric Bowden. His parents, Julia and Ed Bowden Sr., contacted Roanoke lawyer Daniel Crandall just after Eric's death about filing a wrongful death suit against the company, Crandall said, but they have since hired a Wisconsin attorney to represent them.
Bowden's suit claims that the pump was "negligently, carelessly and recklessly" maintained by James River Limestone in at least four ways: The pump and an electric cable were not protected from abrasion by sand and stones in the stream; the cable was improperly spliced; the pump was over-fused; and the pump's grounding system had not been tested.
John Michener, general manager of Global Stone, declined to comment Wednesday, referring questions to the company's lawyer. The lawyer could not be reached for comment.
Brown said he filed the lawsuit in Roanoke because that is where the company's registered agent is located. The suit names James River Limestone, not Global Stone, because the alleged negligence occurred before the company was sold.
Global Stone, which owned the facility at the time of the incident, also could be facing as much as $300,000 in fines from the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, which found seven violations of federal mining codes related to the accident.
The citations were dropped after all the problems were fixed, but Global Stone still faces fines as high as $50,000 on each of six of the violations. (One of the violations was not subject to a fine.) MSHA is still reviewing the severity and degree of negligence to determine the amount of the fines, MSHA spokeswoman Kathy Snyder said.
MSHA's investigation found the wiring to a 480-volt electric water pump owned by the mining company was electrifying a small stream leading to the area in the James River where Bowden was shocked, according to the agency's report.
The pump has since been dismantled and removed, according to the report.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB