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Elizabeth Davis is having "a horrible time" trying to get over the explosion and fire that killed her husband, Michael Davis, three weeks ago at Bethlehem Steel.
The couple would be together today if the mill had not gutted its safety program and allowed "dangerous conditions" to exist in the mill, Northwest Indiana injury attorney Kenneth J. Allen alleged in a lawsuit filed Friday.
Allen, who is representing Elizabeth Davis, is seeking damages of more than $50 million from Bethlehem and its president, Ronald F. Chango.
"Liz Davis isn't going to get her husband back, but if she can prevent this from occurring to someone else, I think she will be satisfied," Allen said. "We have to encourage safety and the only way I know how to do that is to hold them fully accountable for the harm they caused."
Bethlehem declined to comment.
"As a matter of policy, we don't comment on pending litigation," said Clarence Ehlers, Bethlehem's director of public affairs.
Allen said area steel mills, including Bethlehem, developed excellent safety programs over the years. But he said tough times in the industry have led to those programs being dismantled.
"That should be the last thing dismantled," Allen said.
He said if Bethlehem's insurance carrier has to pay $50 million -- the full amount of its liability insurance coverage -- the insurance company would do a safety audit and order the mill to make things safe.
"The goal here is not to hurt the steel industry," Allen said. "The goal is to help them ... to let them know safety has to be the absolute last place to cut costs because in the long run it's more expensive."
Allen added that even if the economy forces the mill into bankruptcy, Elizabeth Davis could receive a judgment from the insurance company.
Michael Davis, 41, of Gary, was killed in the Feb. 2 blast along with Dan Kado, 54, of Hobart. Another worker, Julio Claudio, 51, of Portage, was critically injured, but was released from the hospital last week. Four others sustained minor injuries.
Davis was a contractor working in the mill alongside Kado, who was a mill employee. They were repairing a cracked gas line in Bethlehem's 160-inch plate mill. Some gas that apparently backed up in the line escaped, came in contact with some nearby open flame heaters and caused an explosion and flash fire.
The investigation continues, but Paul Gipson, president of United Steelworkers of America Local 6787, said basic safety measures were not taken. He said the mill's "butchered" safety program contributed to the explosion, an allegation the mill has denied.
Friday's lawsuit, filed in Lake Circuit Court, alleges Bethlehem retained contractors instead of Bethlehem employees to "avoid implementation of necessary safety measures."
The lawsuit also states the mill failed to warn of the likelihood of serious injury or death and "knowingly permitted unreasonably dangerous conditions to exist."
Michael Davis was the sole provider to his wife and was also the stepfather of her two children, Allen said. And as a result of the "misconduct" of the mill and its president, Elizabeth Davis sustained damages of $50 million from "loss of his love, affection, companionship ... economic loss resulting from his premature death."
Allen said he also has been retained by three of Michael Davis' co-workers and is preparing lawsuits on their behalf.
"The sad and horrifying fact is they watched him incinerated," Allen said. "It's a pretty horrific image they live with every night when they close their eyes."
