NIAGARA FALLS — The sister of a man who was killed in a trash compactor at the One Niagara building last year has sued that building’s owners, the compactor’s owners and the Niagara Falls Police Department.
Evie Shepherd of Niagara Falls, sister of John H. Adams, filed suit last week in State Supreme Court.
The suit, filed by Grand Island attorney Shawn W. Carey, charges the respondents with inflicting emotional distress and exhibiting negligence for failing to discover Adams’ body before it was incinerated with the garbage in the compactor.
The suit names One Niagara; the building’s former owners, Whitestar Development Corp.; Allied Waste Services; the city; and the Police Department.
The suit does not list the amount of damages being sought.
Whitestar owned the building at the time of the death of Adams, 67, of Seventh Street.
Adams, a maintenance man at One Niagara, either fell or climbed into the compactor July 4, 2010. The incident was captured on a surveillance videotape, but the video wasn’t examined until 19 days later.
In the meantime, officers investigating the missing persons case that Shepherd filed with police had emptied the compactor but found nothing they recognized as human remains.
The contents of the compactor were burned July 7, 2010, in the Covanta Niagara incinerator in Niagara Falls.
The bizarre circumstances deprived Shepherd of the opportunity to obtain closure by holding a funeral or burial service for her brother, the lawsuit charges.
This is the second suit filed over the death. In January, Adams’ estate sued One Niagara, Allied Waste and the compactor manufacturers, but not the police.
“It was a tragic accident, as we’ve said before,” One Niagara President Tony Farina said Thursday. “There’s not much we can do about it. He climbed into the trash compactor. The video clearly shows it. . . . We mourn his loss, and we sympathize with the family.”
Adams died without a will, and his estate is being administered on behalf of his six children by Niagara County Treasurer Kyle R. Andrews. The children, who all live in other states, stand to divide up any damages won in the estate’s lawsuit.
Attorney Peter M. Kooshoian, of Rosenthal, Siegel and Muenkel, who represents the plaintiffs in the estate’s suit, said it is before State Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Kloch Sr. in Lockport, and he expects Shepherd’s suit to be added to Kloch’s docket.
“We’re in discovery right now. We haven’t had any depositions yet,” Kooshoian said.
He said when he does have the chance to question the other side, he will want to know why the video wasn’t checked until 19 days after the incident.
Kooshoian said he is trying to find out which company manufactured the compactor, which his suit claims was dangerous. The maker’s current corporate name is K-PAC, a Kansas company, but there were several mergers and acquisitions involving two or three other firms.
Kloch last year ordered preservation of the videotape, the compactor and documents on its history and the police probe.
Police Superintendent John R. Chella referred questions to Corporation Counsel Craig H. Johnson, who said the city hasn’t been served with the suit yet.
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