NIPSCO sued over surgery delay triggered by recent power failure

A Porter County woman is suing NIPSCO, accusing the utility company of failing to keep lines clear of brush or vegetation before a power failure last week that affected more than 300,000 people.

Margaret Shragal says the failure that started after storms hit Aug. 11 forced her to delay a surgery scheduled the same day to repair a fractured hip. That caused unnecessary pain and suffering, according to a complaint filed late Friday in Porter Superior Court against NIPSCO, or the Northern Indiana Public Service Co.

Shragal’s attorney, Kenneth J. Allen, is seeking class action status for the case.

A NIPSCO spokesperson told The Indiana Lawyer that the company is aware of the lawsuit but its immediate focus is on restoring service as quickly and safely as possible.

“We will address the specific allegations through the appropriate legal process,” the NIPSCO representative said in an email, adding that “safety and reliability are fundamental to how we operate.”

The company said on its website that severe weather caused “unprecedented” damage across its electric system. The company has experienced 338,000 total outages due to storm damage from last week.

NIPSCO had restored power to about 75% by late Monday morning and expects power to be restored to everyone by around noon on Friday.

Shragal’s complaint states that “negligent vegetation management” contributed to the widespread disruptions, and her attorney seeks to represent anyone who suffered personal injury because of that.

The lawsuit notes that NIPSCO was obligated to manage the vegetation growing around power lines in part due to standards established by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.

But the lawsuit says the company did this inadequately. The complaint states that the company ignored public requests for vegetation management and failed to identify and remove hazardous trees and keep vegetation a safe distance from distribution and transmission lines.

The complaint lists several failures, also noting that NIPSCO didn’t have pole and line inspections properly performed to detect problems with vegetation.

The case is Margaret Shragal, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated v. Northern Indiana Public Service Co. LLC. The case number is 64D02-2608-CT-009144.