Global Fastener News

Powers Fasteners Seeks Special Prosecutor

Jason Sandefur

A day after Powers Fasteners was indicted for manslaughter relating to the fatal collapse of ceiling panels in Boston’s Big Dig tunnel system, the company’s attorneys moved to disqualify Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley and her assistant prosecutors.
Attorneys Martin Levin and Max Stern of Stern, Shapiro, Weissberg & Garin also indicated they would ask that the indictment be dismissed, while also seeking the appointment of an independent prosecutor “because Attorney General Coakley has an irreconcilable conflict of interest,” the company said in a statement.
Powers Fasteners claimed that “while the Attorney General was making the determination to criminally charge Powers, she has been seeking to advance the Commonwealth”s ability to collect as much money as possible … to cover the significant cost overruns caused at least in part by the state'”s own mismanagement of the Big Dig.” This perceived conflict “led the Attorney General to scapegoat a blameless party,” Stern claimed.
Stern said Coakley and special assistant Paul Ware made clear in public statements that “they are simultaneously prosecuting Powers Fasteners and also representing both the Commonwealth and the Massachusetts Highway Department (MHD)” in a parallel civil suit.
Stern also mentioned what he called “indisputable documentary evidence” that the “chief materials engineer for the MHD … and the very person with responsibility for overseeing the approval of all materials used in the tunnel, was aware … that Power’s Fast Set epoxy had failed a so-called ‘creep test'” because Powers disclosed this information before the ceiling was installed.
Company memos supplied to FIN support Powers’ claim that as far back as 1999 the company explained the limitations of fast-set epoxy to firms and agencies involved in the Big Dig, including the Massachusetts Highway Department (see FIN, July 25, 2007).
Stern claimed the prosecution amounted to “a cover-up of state officials’ responsibility and a serious injustice to a small company.” �2007 FastenerNews.com