YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A Mahoning County judge approved a settlement in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of the Chase Bank employee killed in the May 2024 Realty Tower explosion.
Judge Robert N. Rusu Jr. of Mahoning County Probate Court approved the $6.1 million settlement Monday in the death of Akil Drake.
Under that agreement, YO Properties 47 LLC, the owner of the building; LY Property Management LLC, the property manager; and GreenHeart Companies LLC will pay $3 million of the settlement. Enbridge/Dominion will pay $2.9 million; and A Nieder Architects and MS Consultants each will pay $100,000, according to court documents.
The judge’s decision follows a hearing last week when he heard testimony from Sharnette Crite-Evans, Drake’s mother, and his older sister, Traesha Pritchard, about the family and about the day of the explosion.
The settlement allots 50% of the award, or $906,640, to Crite-Evans and 40%, or $725,312, to Pritchard. Drake’s paternal grandmother and grandfather each will receive 1.5% – about $27,199 each, and his seven siblings on his late father’s side will receive 1%, or about $18,132, each.
The four law firms representing the family will be paid $2.43 million for attorney’s fees and services and $43,437 in reimbursement of case expenses. The firms are located in Florida and West Virginia.
Rusu didn’t approve some expenses sought by the attorneys though. He listed travel expenses, flights, mileage charges, Hulu subscriptions and subscriptions to newspapers that “the Court finds is not appropriate to be charged to the client and that it is a cost of doing business especially considering their forty percent (40%) retainer agreement,” he wrote in his judgment entry regarding one of the firms’ requested expenses.
The May 2024 natural gas explosion injured several who lived or worked in the historic building, many of whom have filed lawsuits. A Chase Bank branch was on the first floor.
Realty Tower was demolished last summer after structural engineers hired by its owners determined it was in danger of collapsing.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the explosion and last May released a slew of documents from the investigation. Included was the NTSB group chair’s pipeline operations factual report, which detailed inaccurate records regarding inactive Enbridge/Dominion natural gas lines.
A scrap crew, employed by GreenHeart, was in the vault of the building removing old utilities. GreenHeart was contracted by the city of Youngstown to remove and relocate utilities in preparation for a city road improvement project.
The crew cut a gas line that was believed to be inactive. The explosion occurred about six minutes later.
Pictured at top: A Chase Bank sign is seen on the Realty Tower after the May 28, 2024, explosion at the building.