Family Sues Rocketdyne for Blast That Killed Physicist

The family of a Rocketdyne physicist killed in an explosion last year at a test site near Simi Valley has filed a $100-million damage claim against Rocketdyne and the firm that made a compound involved in the blast.

The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Tuesday--the day before the one-year anniversary of the explosion that killed Otto K. Heiney, 53, and Larry Pugh, also a physicist, at Rocketdyne’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory. A third employee was injured in the explosion.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Heiney’s widow, Judith L. Heiney of Florida, and the Heineys’ two children. It includes a $25-million wrongful death claim against Rocketdyne, its corporate parent, Rockwell International Inc., and three executives--Donald R. Beall, Rockwell chief executive officer; Paul B. Smith, Rocketdyne president, and J.F. Weber, former manager of energetic chemistry and propellants.

The complaint also seeks $25 million for each of three product-liability claims against Hercules Inc., which the suit says produced the nitrocellulose in the chemical mixture that blew up.

Rocketdyne spokesman Paul Sewell said it is the company’s policy not to comment on pending litigation. But he said that “what happened last year was a tragic accident that affected all of us at Rocketdyne.”

“We grieve with the families, and a year later we still look back on that day with sadness,” he said.

Officials of Delaware-based Hercules could not be reached.

A separate lawsuit by the Pugh family is also expected this week to beat a one-year statute of limitations.

Although it provides no details, the 11-page complaint filed Tuesday asserts that the blast that killed Heiney was part of an illegal waste-disposal operation.

That suspicion is at the heart of a criminal probe made public two weeks ago, when the FBI and investigators from other federal agencies served a search warrant and seized documents at Rocketdyne headquarters in Canoga Park. Federal authorities have since disclosed that they are investigating whether the experiments Rocketdyne said Heiney and Pugh were conducting were merely a ruse to illegally dispose of explosive waste.

Burning off the unneeded fuel components would violate environmental laws and breach federal cleanup contracts, which paid Rockwell millions to dispose of the waste properly, federal officials said.

Rocketdyne officials have declined comment on the federal probe.