The husband of a woman who died after falling into a Unity sinkhole in late 2024 has filed a lawsuit against the restaurant where the sinkhole opened, as well as the corporation that owns the abandoned mine that lay underneath it.
Kenneth Pollard of Unity filed the suit in Westmoreland County Court against Paul Ianuzzo, owner of Monday’s Union Restaurant, as well as U.S. Steel, which acquired the Marguerite mine in 1901 when it bought the H.C. Frick Coke Co.
His wife, Elizabeth Pollard, was looking for a lost cat the night of Dec. 2, 2024, when the ground opened up below her and she fell into a sinkhole above an area of the Marguerite mine where multiple tunnels converged. After a four-day search, rescuers found Pollard’s body about 12 feet southwest of where she’d fallen into the sinkhole.
The lawsuit asserts that the group of defendants — Ianuzzo, U.S. Steel and unnamed people and entities that may have had a stake in the now-abandoned mine — were responsible for the maintenance, upkeep, care, control and safety of the property. It asserts that the restaurant owners and U.S. Steel “knew or should have known of the dangerous conditions, including the existence, nature and unreasonable risk posted by the mine subsidence opening and the area overlying abandoned underground mine workings.”
The lawsuit accuses the restaurant owners of not properly marking the divot of uneven ground that eventually became the top of the sinkhole, thereby allowing a dangerous or unsafe condition.
Paul Iannuzzo declined comment Thursday and said he was not aware of the lawsuit. U.S. Steel officials said they are reviewing the lawsuit.
Searchers believed Pollard likely fell onto a cone of dirt that dropped underneath the sinkhole and rolled somewhere in the mine. She died of wounds to her head and torso, according to autopsy records.
Ianuzzo and U.S. Steel are accused of negligence and wrongful death. The lawsuit is asking for an unspecified amount of monetary damages, to be determined at a trial.