Plum homeowners shocked to be named plaintiffs in Rustic Ridge explosion lawsuits

Several homeowners in Plum were shocked Friday to learn they were listed as plaintiffs in two lawsuits filed a day earlier by insurance companies in connection with a fatal 2023 house explosion in the Rustic Ridge neighborhood.

The lawsuits, filed in Alle­gheny County Common Pleas Court on behalf of Erie Insurance and Allstate, never mention either insurer’s name.

Instead, the plaintiffs listed are nearly three dozen homeowners in and around the Rustic Ridge community who submitted claims through one of the two insurance companies for damage to their homes due to the blast, which killed six people.

The insurance companies are trying to recoup their losses by suing Penneco Oil Co.; Peoples Natural Gas; A.O. Smith Corp., which sold a water heater believed by the plaintiffs to have malfunctioned in the home that blew up; and Grasinger Homes, which built the homes in the neighborhood.

Those are the same defendants named in lawsuits filed last month by the families of victims Heather and Paul Oravitz, Kevin Sebunia, Michael Thomas, Casey Clontz and his 12-year-old son, Keegan Clontz.

The families claim a failure to vent an overpressurized gas line or repair an “unchecked” leak from a 2.5-inch gash in an underground pipe led to the Aug. 12, 2023, disaster, which destroyed three houses and damaged a dozen more.

Richard Boyd, a Montgomery County attorney with de Luca Levine, the firm that filed the most recent lawsuits, said the insurance companies are trying to recoup the money they paid out.

Boyd’s firm specializes in subrogation, the legal process of insurers attempting to recover money paid out to their customers — to “get the money back from the bad guy for the good guy.”

“This is Erie Insurance wanting their money back from the explosion,” Boyd told TribLive on Friday.

In Pennsylvania, he continued, the law does not require that lawsuits like this include the insurance companies’ names as plaintiffs.

“The jury never sees that it’s the name of the company,” Boyd said. “Typically, when you get to trial, it’s better to put it in the name of the insured.”

He called it “a neat little nuance in Pennsylvania.”

However, Boyd said the insurance agents are supposed to notify their clients that the lawsuits are being filed.

“It sounds like maybe that didn’t happen,” he said.

‘Completely surprised’

Out of all of the homeowners contacted by TribLive on Friday, only one confirmed being informed about a potential suit.

Dennis Lynch, who lives on Stonedge Court, said Friday he received a notice a couple of weeks ago that action was pending, although no time frame was given.

Lynch had called Erie over concerns about his garage door. He also had requested that an engineer inspect his property.

Rick Napoleon, who lives across Rustic Ridge Drive from the former site of the Oravitz home, which exploded, said he had no knowledge of any lawsuit filed in his name.

Though dozens of nearby homes suffered extensive damage from the explosion, the Napoleon home was one of the few that had to be completely demolished and rebuilt. Not even the foundations of the structure were viable, Napoleon said.

Erie Insurance covered the entire cost of the demolition and construction process down to materials and testing fees, Napoleon said, but he didn’t anticipate that would result in his being named as a plaintiff in a lawsuit.

“I’m completely surprised,” Napoleon told TribLive. “I didn’t expect this at all.”

Compared with the total rebuild required for the Napoleon home, Jennifer Turner said her damages were fairly negligible.

In fact, the Ross Hollow Road resident said she didn’t even remember filing a claim with Erie until she recalled having an engineer visit her home to ensure its structure was sound.

Though Turner said she has a “good rapport” with her insurance agent, she said Erie never contacted her before using her name in its lawsuit.

“It’s definitely surprising. It’s concerning, especially since so much time has passed,” she said.

Turner said it feels like the companies are trying to “take advantage” of the situation.

‘It seems wrong’

Autumn Favero said she and her husband, who live on Timberwood Court, never wanted to be included in a lawsuit.

Favero said there are members of their community who lost their homes and their loved ones.

“We don’t want to take anything away from them,” Favero said. “It seems wrong to name you in a suit when you had nothing to do with it.”

The Faveros submitted a claim to Allstate for about $30,000 for the damage to their home. That covered having their garage doors replaced and repairing significant damage to their hardwood floors caused by items falling on them during the explosion, she said.

Barbara Fisher and her husband, Ronald, who live on the inner circle of Rustic Ridge Drive, also didn’t know about the lawsuits.

They submitted a claim with Allstate for about $10,000 stemming from damage to their entryway door and another door in their home.

“It took the big triple door and pushed it 4 inches,” Fisher said.

Their home also had cracks appear in the ceiling and stone blown off the facade.

While their claim was paid, Fisher said their insurance company never informed the couple they would be named as plaintiffs.

Christopher Spudich said the same.

“I do understand they have the right to subrogate,” Spudich said. “I was surprised to see my name independently on the lawsuit.”

William Rentler lives on Stonedge Court, which, he said, is about the farthest from the center of the blast.

After the explosion, he called his insurance company, Erie, to ask that it send an engineer to his home to ensure it was safe and did not sustain any damage.

The company did so, he said, and didn’t find anything wrong.

Still, he’s named as a plaintiff.

“I”m surprised at that,” Rentler said. “I’m not surprised Erie didn’t notify me.”

Messages left with both Erie and Allstate were not returned Friday.