Five plaintiffs in the civil lawsuits resulting from the 2001
explosion at the Temple-Inland Particleboard Plant in Mount Jewett
are appealing an October McKean County Court ruling which held
sensor makers GreCon Electronics Inc. blameless in the blast.

According to court records, notices of appeals were filed with
the state Superior Court Friday on behalf of Jody Covert, whose
husband James was killed as a result of the explosion and fire;
David Johnson, Sandy Bussard and Alfonce “Tony” Barnish, who were
all seriously injured.

A notice of intent to appeal has been filed in the McKean County
Prothonotary Office in the case of Joyce Engelken, whose husband
Gregg died as a result of the explosion and fire as well.

The appeals are from an Oct. 17 memorandum and order by McKean
County President Judge John Cleland in which he grants GreCon’s
motion for summary judgment in the case.

Wear and tear, not a manufacturer’s defect, caused the failure
of the spark sensors which lead to the massive explosion and fire
on Feb. 13, 2001, he ruled.

Outside contractors had been welding inside the plant that day
and sparks had fallen into the sawdust, igniting it. Employees of
the plant worked for several hours to try to extinguish all the
sparks, according to court records, but the sparks eventually
entered an auger, causing an explosion and fire.

Three men – Covert, Engelken and Roger Smith – were killed.
Several others were seriously injured, including Stephen Meade,
David Whipkey, Barnish, Bussard and Johnson.

In Cleland’s order, he said that under state law, the survivors
and family members would be required to prove that GreCon’s product
was defective, the defect caused the harm suffered and that the
defect existed when the product left the hands of the
defendant.

Cleland said information had been presented in depositions that
the GreCon spark detectors had failed to operate as intended, as no
alarms went off and no water deluge was initiated.

However, Cleland said, the sensors had operated for 10 years at
that plant without failing, which showed the defect could not have
been present when the product left the manufacturer, the order
reads.

There were three other locally filed lawsuits as well – Roberta
Smith, on behalf of Roger Smith; Meade and Whipkey. As of Tuesday,
there were no appeals filed in any of those suits.