CASS COUNTY, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — The estate of a teenager who was electrocuted to death while working at a Cass County-area farm in 2019 is filing a wrongful death lawsuit.
The lawsuit concerns the death of 19-year-old Rocky Stoner, a graduate of Marcellus High School. Previously, in May 2019, Stoner had been working at Sparks Cedarlee Farms in Cassopolis.
According to Kalamazoo-based Levine and Levine Attorneys at Law, who are representing his family members, Stoner was electrocuted when tasked with building a new storage facility for farm use.
Rocky was holding and guiding a metal truss in place while another worker, operating a GEHL telescoping handler (cherry picker), was raising and moving the truss, which hit a power line.
Stoner was rushed to a hospital, but was later pronounced dead.
“Though Rocky’s mother, Tracy Reeves, realizes that money will not bring back her son, we strongly believe the owners of the farm, the manufacturer of the kit-style building, and the heavy equipment rental company are culpable for his death,” Attorney Randall Levine of Levine & Levine Attorneys said in a statement.
The following parties are named in the lawsuit:
- Sparks Cedarlee Farms, Rocky Stoner’s employer
- AK Enterprises LLC, manufacturer of the pre-fabricated kit style structures
- Wakarusa Heavy Equipment, the company that owned and rented the GEHL cherry picker to Sparks Cedarlee Farms
According to Levine and Levine, the complaint has been filed in Cass County Circuit Court.
It alleges, among other things, that Sparks Cedarlee Farms placed Rocky in danger by directing him to install the AK building in an unsafe environment without taking required safety precautions that would have prevented his death.
Other allegations include the following:
- AK Enterprises failed to instruct and/or warn consumers for the safe assembly and installation of its building, including in the vicinity of live overhead powerlines
- Wakarusa Heavy Equipment breached its legal duty to ensure that those operating its aerial lift equipment have appropriate training and certification for safe operation of the equipment.
“Rocky’s estate is entitled to recover monetary damages deemed fair and just due to the wrongful death,” Levine added. “Michigan’s Wrongful Death Statute allows a recovery for the pain and suffering endured by Rocky during the period between the time of the injury and his death; and reasonable medical, hospital, funeral, and burial expenses. Rocky was a star athlete at Marcellus High School. He had just been accepted into the Michigan State Police Academy. He was the editor of the school newspaper. He was a great kid who did not deserve to die at 19 years old. The complaint seeks to hold those responsible accountable.”
