Ohio trucking company settles lawsuit over city worker killed by drunk driver

By Jim Greene

Published on October 24, 2005

On May 24, 2004, a dump truck owned by Eslich Wrecking Co. and driven by Robert Martz struck the elevated bucket that held Peter Milbrodt, who was repairing a traffic light at a Canton intersection. Milbrodt, who was not wearing a safety harness, was knocked out of the bucket and killed. Martz was legally drunk and tested positive for cocaine at the time of the accident.

Milbrodt's family's suit accused Eslich of negligence for employing Martz without conducting a background check that would have revealed a history of drunk driving and for allowing him to overload his truck, making it unstable and unsafe to operate.

The $10 million suit discounted an Ohio Department of Commerce citation of the city for not enforcing the use of safety harnesses and for not providing proper traffic control at the job site. The family claims Milbrodt and his crew had properly placed orange safety cones around the work area and that a safety harness would not have saved Milbrodt.

Martz is serving a five-year prison term for aggravated vehicular homicide, driving while intoxicated, and operating an overweight vehicle. He pleaded guilty to the charges in September 2004.

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