Teen’s family, Massachusetts utility reach settlement

Crushed by falling chimney in gas explosion

LAWRENCE, Mass. — The family of a high school student who was killed during a series of natural gas explosions in Massachusetts last year has reached a settlement with the utility involved in the disaster, a lawyer for the family and the company said Tuesday.

Financial details were not disclosed.

Leonel Rondon of Lawrence, Massachusetts, died Sept. 13 after the chimney of an exploding house crashed onto his car. Rondon, 18, had received his driver’s license just hours earlier.

Rondon’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Columbia Gas of Massachusetts.

The explosions and fires in the Merrimack Valley communities of Lawrence, Andover and North Andover also injured about 25 others and damaged or destroyed more than 100 homes.

The National Transportation Safety Board blamed the explosions on over-pressurized gas lines.

“We recognize the pain that remains and understand that nothing we can ever say or do will bring Leonel back,” Joe Hamrock, president and chief executive of Nisource Inc., the parent company of Columbia Gas, said in a statement. “We have always wanted to do the right thing for the Rondon family and all of those affected.”

Columbia Gas said it would establish a scholarship fund in Rondon’s name, independent of the settlement.

The law firm that represented Rondon’s family also planned to establish a scholarship fund, according to Doug Sheff, the family’s attorney.

Rondon, a high school junior, was “full of life” and loved science and music, Sheff said.

“He dreamt of going to college and cared for his family members in every way possible. His mother, Rosaly, described Leonel as ‘the happiness of the house.’ The family can only hope that this kind of catastrophe will never happen again,” Sheff said.