Pennsylvania’s highest court has ruled against victims of the
Feb. 13, 2001, fire and explosion at the Temple-Inland
Particleboard Plant in Mount Jewett in a product liability
case.

On Oct. 2, the state Supreme Court upheld the previous decisions
at the state Superior Court and McKean County Court of Common Pleas
levels.

The case involves Tony Barnish, Sandy Bussard and David Johnson,
all of whom were injured in the fire; as well as Joyce Engelken and
Jody Covert, whose husband Gregg Engelken and James Covert died as
a result of the fire.

The victims had filed suit in 2003 in McKean County against
several outside contractors working at the plant prior to the
explosion — KWI Building Co., United McGill Corp., McGill Airclean
Corp., Fenwal Safety Systems Inc. and GreCon Electronics Inc.

In 2004, the plaintiffs settled with all parties with the
exception of GreCon, which made the spark sensors that were in
place at the plant since 1991.

The plaintiffs alleged that a manufacturer’s defect caused the
sensors to fail the day of the fire; GreCon argued the sensors had
worked properly for 10 years prior to the blast, and therefore were
not defective.

In October 2005, then McKean County President Judge John Cleland
upheld GreCon’s argument, saying the plaintiffs were required to
prove the sensors were defective, the defect caused the harm in
question and the defect existed when the product left the
manufacturer’s hands.

In January 2007, the state Superior Court upheld Cleland’s
ruling. Judge John Bender said the plaintiffs did not present a
case free of secondary causes for the failure of the product —
including wear and tear.

The plaintiffs then sought an appeal to the state’s highest
court. Permission to appeal was granted April 3, 2008. The case was
argued before the Supreme Court on Sept. 8, 2008.

The decision, authored by Supreme Court Justice Max Baer, came
more than a year later.

“Absent some evidence, direct or circumstantial, to explain how
the product could both function properly prior to the accident and
be defective at the time of delivery, the plaintiffs failed to meet
the required element of a strict liability claim that the product
was defective when it left the manufacturer’s control,” reads
Baer’s opinion in the case.

Baer said one of the plaintiffs had testified at his deposition
that GreCon’s sensors had activated properly during other fires and
a previous explosion at the plant.

Baer said the plaintiffs could not present direct evidence of a
defect in the sensors because the “sensors were lost after the
explosion and fire.” Instead, the case proceeded under the
malfunction theory.

Under that theory, the plaintiffs would have to prove nothing
else could have caused the malfunction other than a defect.

The fire and explosion in 2001 were caused by an outside
contractor welding on a catwalk. Sparks fell into the sawdust on
the floor of the plant. Employees of the particleboard plant had
worked for several hours to try to extinguish all the sparks, but
some sparks entered into an auger, causing an explosion and
fire.

Three men — Engelken, Covert and Roger Smith — died as a result
of injuries suffered in the blast and resulting fire. Several
others were severely injured, including Barnish, Bussard and
Johnson.

In April 2003, Temple-Inland announced the shutdown of its
particleboard plant in Mount Jewett, citing weak economic
conditions. The company still operates a medium-density fiberboard
plant in Mount Jewett.