Boardman, others sued in death of man killed by tree

The tree had become weakened by a drainage ditch that had been built nearby, the lawsuit said.

STAFF report

YOUNGSTOWN — The family of a Boardman man, killed by a tree that fell on his pickup truck on Shields Road in Boardman on April 16, 2007, has sued the owners of the tree and the governments of Mahoning County and Boardman Township.

Lori Kish, administrator of the estate of Lawrence Kish, 5570 Lockwood Blvd., filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

The suit said Lawrence Kish, 54, also of Lockwood Boulevard, was driving on Shields Road about 4 p.m. that day when a large tree fell onto his vehicle, causing massive and fatal injuries. Kish died at the scene, the suit said.

The suit said Boardman Township and Mahoning County officials built a drainage trench along Shields Road just before the accident that weakened the tree and its roots.

Marilyn Kenner, chief deputy engineer for county Engineer Richard Marsico, said the office would have no comment on the suit until it had seen it.

She said there is an open ditch in that area, but the county had not done any work on the ditch around that time.

Jason Loree, Boardman administrator, also declined to comment.

The suit said the tree exhibited outward signs of decay and infestation “and an increased or highest level of tree hazard rating,” but the tree was not marked with any warning signs.

The tree had peeling bark, fallen limbs, holes and infestations, the suit said.

The conditions were “not open and obvious to the general public but discoverable by proper inspection by persons qualified, including defendant Mahoning County, defendant Boardman Township and defendants Frank Scrocco Jr. and Amanda Malie,” the suit said.

Scrocco and Malie lived in the house and owned the land on Shields Road where the tree was located, the suit said.

There were reports to the defendants concerning the dangerous condition of a number of trees on Shields Road near the drainage trench, the suit said.

The suit seeks more than $25,000 from each of the defendants named in the suit.

Scrocco and Malie could not be reached to comment.

Vindicator files say the tree fell on a night when high winds gusting at times to more than 40 mph knocked out power to 15,500 electrical customers in the area.