YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A Poland man and an Andrews Avenue company have filed a lawsuit stemming from the May 2024 Realty Tower explosion.
The suit, filed Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court by Michael Albright and Clearview Building Products LLC, lists as defendants YO Properties 47, LY Property Management, Greenheart Companies, Enbridge and several subsidiaries, Dominion Energy Services Inc., Dominion Fuel Energy Services, Dominion Energy, MS Consultants Inc., A. Neider Architecture, Medical Mutual of Ohio and the Ohio Department of Medicaid. It seeks unspecified damages.
It says that Albright “has suffered potentially permanent physical and/or psychological injuries causing pain and suffering …” and has incurred medical expenses.
A scrap removal crew working in the basement of Realty cut a natural gas line that was believed to be abandoned. The line, however, was active and the workers heard and smelled gas, pulled a fire alarm, called 911 and started to alert building occupants to evacuate. The explosion occurred about six minutes after the line was cut.
An employee of the Chase Bank branch on Realty’s first floor was killed, and several other people were injured. The building was razed last summer.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday is the most recent of several filed connected to the explosion. The first suit, a wrongful death complaint filed by the family of the man who was killed, was settled. Settlement details were disclosed in a court filing Tuesday.
Pictured at top: Damage to the Realty Tower is seen after the May 28, 2024, explosion.