Claims filed over deadly ATV crash
SANDPOINT - A multi-million dollar cloud of litigation could be forming over an all-terrain vehicle crash on Schweitzer Mountain that claimed the life of a former Kootenai resident.
The widow and children of Kevin W. Sienkiewicz have filed $5 million wrongful death tort claims against Bonner County and the Independent Highway District. The claims, which can serve as precursors to lawsuits if they are not settled, allege Fall Line Road was negligently maintained.
Kevin W. Sienkiewicz, 41, died after colliding with a steel cable stretched across an access road leading to Schweitzer Mountain Resort's sewage lagoons on Nov. 10, 2007. Sienkiewicz was a wastewater treatment plant technician for the resort's utility company.
The crash occurred near the Fall Line parking lot.
Another employee who passed through the accident scene shortly after 8 a.m. discovered Sienkiewicz's lifeless body and the Bombardier ATV, according to a Bonner County Sheriff's deputy's report.
Sienkiewicz suffered a severe neck injury in the deadly collision, the report said. Inspectors from the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration concluded Sienkiewicz was headed toward the lagoon site when he crashed, said Dave Kearns, OSHA's assistant area director in Boise.
The cable Sienkiewicz struck was attached to two metal posts with padlocks to which Sienkiewicz had the keys, the police report said.
The tort claims filed by Linda Sienkiewicz and the couple's children allege the cable was not marked. But the police report states there were several pieces of ribbon attached to the cable, one of which was smeared with blood.
Federal labor inspectors confirmed the cable had flagging on it, but the barricade was still insufficiently marked.
“It was poorly marked and not appropriately marked according to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices,” Kearns said.
The deputy's report indicated weather conditions might have also factored into the crash. It was raining heavily and there were low-lying clouds, Deputy Jeremy Deal said in his report.
Schweitzer Mountain Resort was cited for two “serious” violations, OSHA records state. One citation was for the improperly marked cable and the other was for not ensuring employees were trained to safely operate ATVs at the resort.
OSHA proposed $12,600 in fines, but the penalties were reduced by half through a settlement agreement. Schweitzer agreed to upgrade cable gates throughout the resort and implement an ATV training program, according to the settlement.
Although the mountain resort is located within the county, Bonner County does not maintain or regulate roads at Schweitzer.
“We have no jurisdiction up in that area,” said Chuck Spickelmire, supervisor of the county's Road & Bridge department.
The Independent Highway District annexed public roads on Schweitzer Mountain in 2006. But the only road accepted into the district's maintenance program is the first 10 miles of Schweitzer Mountain Road, said Jackie Glahe, a spokeswoman for the highway district.
Glahe said Fall Line Road is not maintained by the district.
At the time of his death, Sienkiewicz had been on the job for about five days. He was a wastewater plant operator in Lewiston before relocating to Bonner County, according to an obituary published by the Lewiston Morning Tribune.
The obituary described Sienkiewicz as a man who was devoted to his faith and his family. He is survived by his wife and their four children, who ranged in age from 11 to 19. The family has since relocated back to Lewiston, the tort claim said.
“Our hearts go out to the victim's family,” Schweitzer CEO Tom Chasse said in a statement. “We are also still working to bring closure to the situation internally, as unfortunate incidents such as this are inevitably challenging to work through.”