Jury Selection Begins for Maine Roofing Contractor Charged with Death of Worker
The jury selection process has begun for a roofing contractor in Maine who is charged with the death of one of his workers due to a fall.
According to the Associated Press, the jury selection for the trial of Michael Purvis began on Dec. 1. Purvis is charged with the death of Alan Loignon, who fell from a roof because of alleged unsafe working conditions. The trial was initially scheduled for March 2020, but was delayed due to the pandemic.
Loignon, 30, was reportedly working as a subcontracted roofer at a house in Portland, Maine. He fell to his death from a roof on Dec. 13, 2018 in Portland. He was Purvis' half brother, and the family is pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit, the Associated Press reports.
In 2020, Purvis Home Improvement Co. agreed to pay $45,000 in safety violation fines that occurred prior to the 2018 incident. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is pursuing a total of $2 million in fines, $1.8 million of which stems from the death of Loignan. Purvis is contesting the citation.
OSHA inspected and cited the contractor for safety violations seven times in the past seven years. OSHA levied an additional $278,000 in fines in December for willful, repeated and serious workplace violations at a jobsite in Springvale, Maine in 2019.
The family of Loignan is seeking a $2.5 million wrongful death lawsuit against Purvis.
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