Mom of West Virginia Teen Killed by File Cabinet Sues Employer

A West Virginia woman whose daughter was killed when a filing cabinet fell on her is suing the victim’s employer.

Lawyers for Lori McCoy filed the wrongful death lawsuit in Mason County Circuit Court. It names Dr. John A Wade Jr., president of the state Board of Medicine, his private practice and Steelcase Inc., the cabinet’s manufacturer.

Point Pleasant police say McCoy’s 17-year-old daughter, Andrya Lynn Jordan, was filing papers in a storage building when the five-drawer cabinet fell in November 2006. Emergency personnel found Jordan pinned between the cabinet and a Jeep.

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, accuses Wade of failing to provide a safe and non-hazardous work environment.

A Steelcase spokeswoman declined comment, citing the ongoing lawsuit. An attorney for Wade didn’t immediately returned a telephone message.