Widow says gear was faulty
By Heather Ratcliffe
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS, Mo. — A lawyer for a city firefighter's widow told jurors Wednesday that she deserves damages because a faulty valve on an air mask killed her husband as he tried to rescue a fallen comrade.
But the defense insisted that Derek Martin should have known to check the "exhalation valve" before trusting it, because a variety of brands are at risk of becoming jammed by debris and sweat.
The valve was stuck when federal investigators examined it 10 days after Martin died.
He should have been able to breathe even with the valve stuck, the defense insisted with a demonstration in St. Louis Circuit Court.
It is the second suit against Survivair over the deaths of Martin and Robert Morrison, both 38 and of Rescue Squad 1. They died battling what initially seemed a routine blaze in a small commercial building in the 2200 block of Gravois Avenue on the night of May 3, 2002.
Morrison's widow, Laura, claimed in an earlier suit that her husband's PASS device, a personal distress alarm, failed to work when he became incapacitated, delaying others from finding him in the heavy smoke. Before the end of that trial, Survivair reached a sealed settlement reported to be worth $1 million to $5 million.
In opening statements Wednesday in the Martin trial, plaintiff's lawyer Jerry Schlichter said Martin rushed in to look for Morrison and died after removing his mask and gloves while trying to clear the valve.
Schlichter claimed that Survivair knew about design flaws when it sold the masks to the St. Louis Fire Department in the late 1990s. The department has expressed confidence in the gear and continues to use it.
Schlichter alleged that the company "operated with a conscious disregard for the safety of firefighters in this country."
Survivair attorney Lynn Hursh said it was Fire Department safety procedures - not the equipment - that broke down. He noted that firefighters operated alone inside the building in violation of the "buddy system," did not properly ventilate the heat and smoke, and failed to hear a distress message over the radio.
He also said firefighters "make sure that everything is working before you enter the fire scene." He added, "Martin would not have gone in if it didn't."
Schlichter argued that Martin would not have needed to go into the building if Morrison's Survivair-built PASS device had worked.
Hursh said exhalation valves made by several competitors also get stuck because sweat and debris can create a "glue." He said the company and the Fire Department's manual insist that firefighters clear their masks regularly.
Hursh strapped on a similar mask and air tank, took several labored breaths in front of the jury and then revealed the exhalation valve had been glued shut for the demonstration.
"Any firefighter can do what an attorney from Kansas City just did," he said.
On Tuesday, the second day of jury selection, Angela Martin left the courtroom in tears after several potential jurors told a lawyer they had sympathy for the widow and her three children.
"My heart goes out to her," one said.
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