Lawsuit blames equipment manufacturer for Lake in the Hills man's death

The family of a 26-year-old Lake in the Hills man killed last month when he became trapped in a salt spreader auger is suing the machinery's manufacturer, installer and retailer, claiming a safety device would have prevented his death.

Timothy Pittas was unloading salt from the bed of his pickup truck the morning of Dec. 12 in unincorporated Cook County near Streamwood when his clothing became entangled in the auger.

Pittas sustained fatal injuries and died of ligature strangulation, an autopsy determined.

“I'll never see him get married, I'll never see him have kids, I'll never go to a game with him again,” his father, David Pittas, said Monday. “I don't want this to happen to anyone else again.”

A complaint filed this morning in Cook County circuit court claims wrongful death and negligence against Ohio-based Buyers Products Co., North Dakota-based Rugby Manufacturing Co. and Rockenbach Chevrolet Sales Inc. in Grayslake and Scott Wezalis, described in the suit as “an employee or agent of Rockenbach.”

According to the lawsuit, the salt spreader was “unreasonably dangerous and defective” because it wasn't equipped with an emergency shut-off device or other guards protecting someone from the auger.

The suit also states the machine was negligently designed and manufactured because there weren't any warnings that it could unexpectedly entangle clothes worn by the operator.

None of the defendants immediately returned calls for comment.

Pittas was working for his father's South Elgin landscaping business, Qualityscapes Inc., at the time of his death. He had at least a couple of years experience operating the machine, David Pittas said.

The lawsuit doesn't state a specific dollar amount, but says the plaintiff seeks an “amount in excess of the minimum jurisdictional amount” of the circuit court's law division.

Attorney Timothy Cavanagh said the family's goal is to change the industry.

“Considering that there have been numerous similar incidents where people have been killed by augers (made by various companies), the manufacturer has to be held responsible for this preventable tragedy,” Cavanagh said.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has yet to release the results of its investigation into Pittas' death. An investigation is standard protocol when there's a fatality related to the workplace.