Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Building Firms Sued Over Worker’s Death

The mother of a building inspector who died after falling into a 66-foot shaft at a Valencia construction site has filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against two building firms.

Jaime Lozoya, 32, of Downey, fell into the 2 1/2-foot-wide hole while inspecting the property on Via Onda in August.

Two residences there had been demolished because of earthquake damage, and the shafts were due to be filled with concrete and steel reinforcements for seismic safety.

Lozoya was employed by Anaheim-based Willdan and Associates, one of several building-inspection firms the city of Santa Clarita hired to help with the thousands of structural reviews needed after the Northridge quake.

According to the lawsuit, Miller Construction Co. of Castaic and D. J. Scheffler Co. of Walnut contributed to Lozoya’s death by permitting unsafe conditions around the shaft and the construction site in general.

“Experienced inspectors just don’t fall into holes,” said Gary Balekjian, attorney for Esperanza Lozoya, the victim’s mother.

Balekjian said Miller and Scheffler employees had not properly covered the shaft, wrongly allowed heavy machinery to operate nearby and failed to accompany the building inspector as he walked around the site.

In December, the two construction firms were cited for safety violations by the state Department of Industrial Relations in connection with the incident.

The companies were cited for not properly securing the covering of the shaft, which witnesses said Lozoya was examining when he fell.

Lozoya was wedged into the narrow shaft for nearly four hours, and was lifted out in a harness after several rescue attempts. He passed out while in the shaft, and went into cardiac arrest as he was pulled out.

Lozoya died in a Santa Clarita hospital two days after the accident.

No dollar amount was mentioned in the lawsuit, but Balekjian said he will seek about $3.5 million in damages.

The attorney representing D. J. Scheffler Co. declined to comment on the case. Officials with Miller Construction Co. could not be reached.

A hearing on the matter has been set for October.