This property in the Shawano County town of Maple Grove, seen Oct. 18, 2022, is the location of a bonfire explosion that injured dozens of current and former Pulaski High School students. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, (WTAQ-WLUK) – An insurance company does not have to provide coverage of the owner of the property where a bonfire explosion injured multiple people, a judge ruled.
Benjamin Van Asten, Isaac Nelson and his parents, Brady McAllister and his father, Brandon Brzeczkowski and Matthew Lindsley filed civil lawsuits against the same three defendants: Allan Eron, Samuel Armstrong and Tyler Frisch. They were among the more than dozen people who were injured when a partially filled drum of diesel and gasoline was tossed onto a fire Oct. 14, 2022, at a home in the town of Maple Grove, causing an explosion. No trial date has been set.
At the time of the incident, Farmers Automobile Insurance Association provided coverage to Mary Wojkiewicz for the property at W2176 Cedar Drive, Pulaski. It asked to be dismissed from the case, claiming Allan Eron – who lived there with his son, Braeden – were not covered by the policy.
In a 16-page ruling issued late Wednesday, Judge John Zakowski agreed, and dismissed Farmers from the case.
The declaration page of Mary’s policy proves conclusively that Allan and Braeden were not named insureds. Their deposition testimony further shows that Allan and Braeden were not part of Mary’s household. Allan and Braeden never lived under one roof with Mary at any time that is actually relevant to this case. Indeed, Braeden testified that he resided with his mother,” the ruling states.
The ruling also goes on to question Eron’s lack of action.
“The Court must also ask how equitable is it to Farmers to have to cover the massive tort claims caused by a grown man who was living at the property all-but for free, who did not take the initiative to obtain his own insurance or to add himself to the property owner’s insurance, and who was hosting parties where he knew underage kids were drinking? These are all very hard questions to answer, but at the end of the day, the Court does not believe the record and the reasonable inferences from require Mary’s policy to be reformed to cover Plaintiffs’ claims against Allan and Braeden,” the ruling states.
Previously, Judge Zakowski ruled an insurance company must cover Frisch, but a different company did not have cover Eron.
Armstrong, the teen who threw the barrel onto the fire, was sentenced to one year in jail. Another person was prosecuted in juvenile court.
The Shawano County Sheriff’s Department has said at least 17 teenagers suffered burn injuries out of about 60 that were at the bonfire.
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