Families of Plum house explosion victims file lawsuits citing 4 companies for cause
Nearly two years since the massive explosion that leveled homes in Plum's Rustic Ridge and killed six people, the cause of the tragedy has remained enveloped in mystery.
The Allegheny County Fire Marshal's Office has yet to determine a cause of the blast on Aug. 12, 2023. But on Tuesday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, the families of those victims filed separate suits, alleging the explosion was the result of a build-up of methane escaping from a ruptured line nearby.
"You want to know how, when, why. Why my family? Why my mom and dad? Why my neighbors, my friends? It's a whole community back there. That little part of the neighborhood, we were all family," said Taylor Oravitz, the daughter of victims Paul and Heather Oravitz.
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Plum home explosion lawsuit
The explosion leveled three homes and claimed the lives of Paul and Heather Oravitz, Casey and Keegan Clontz, Kevin Sebunia, and Michael Thomas.
Their families accuse four companies — Penneco Oil and Gas, Peoples Natural Gas, the A.O. Smith Corporation and Grasinger Homes — of negligence for failing to foresee the likelihood of an explosion and failing to take action to prevent it.
"That hole's never going to be fixed. It's never going to be replaced, but it's just trying to mend it as best we can," Taylor Oravitz told KDKA on Tuesday.
The attorneys for the families of the victims believe they know who is responsible.
They claim it was a natural gas line operated by Penneco running from wells and a nearby compressor station, which was located behind the house. According to the court filing, pressure in the line had been building for months and began escaping from a rupture.
The suit alleges the gas migrated through the ground, filled the Oravitz's family home at 141 Rustic Ridge Drive, and caused the explosion — even though the state Department of Environmental Protection discounted that theory, calling the opening a pinhole.
"This was not a pinhole leak," Dominic Guerrini of the Kline and Specter law firm. "This was a massive, massive hole in that pipeline, and that's why we're here."
The suit names Penneco and the utility Peoples Natural Gas as defendants, saying both knew about the pressure build-up but neither took action to vent the line or replace a faulty regulator. And they believe a chain of missteps failed to prevent the tragedy.
On the morning of the day of the explosion, Casey and Keegan Clontz came to the house to look at the water heater, which had been making strange noises. The court papers say the noises were caused by the external gas building up in the basement, which caused the blast.
The suit names manufacturer A.O. Smith Corporation for not issuing a warning to purchasers, and the families are also suing developers Grasinger Homes for building so close to gas lines.
The Oravitzs and Clontzs were killed in the explosion, as were nearby neighbors Sebunia and Thomas.
"At multiple different points along the way, steps could have been taken to have prevented this incident and prevented the deaths of these six people," said Benjamin Baer, who represents Cole and Taylor Oravitz, the son and daughter of Paul and Heather Oravitz.
Responding to the filings, Penneco denied the claim, stating, "We believe the statements in the lawsuit misstate the facts and will show in court we do not have any culpability in this event."
In a similar vein, Peoples Natural Gas denied responsibility, noting that the Pennsylvania Utility Commission "found no evidence linking Peoples' public utility infrastructure to the cause of the incident."
"The safety of our customers, employees, and the communities we serve remains our top priority. When this event occurred, Peoples immediately worked with the authorities to assist in the investigation to determine what happened," the statement added, in part.
KDKA also reached out to the A.O. Smith Corporation and Grasinger Homes for comment, but they have not responded as of Tuesday evening.
"These were neighbors who were banding together to help one another, and they paid with their lives," Guerrini said. "And it's been a long time since this happened, and it's important that justice is served and the parties who are responsible for this compensate the victims."
What comes next?
Now that the suits have been filed, all parties will be engaged in a lengthy discovery process before a trial is set. The families are alleging negligence and seeking damages for pain and suffering.
