The family of an 18-year-old Oregon worker who was killed at a construction site has filed a $35 million wrongful death lawsuit, alleging that his employers sent him into a dangerous intersection with absolutely no safety precautions in place.
Lucas Gray, just 18 years old, was working at a construction site in Oregon City when the fatal incident occurred last summer. According to the lawsuit filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, Gray and another worker were assigned to clean water valve access points in the middle of a street — requiring them to physically lie face-down in an active intersection.
The complaint states that at the time of the incident, there were no safety cones, no barricades, no flagging, and no warning signs of any kind around the area where Gray was working. There was also no spotter and no coordinated traffic management plan — even as multiple pieces of heavy equipment operated on the same site.
The lawsuit names Serres Farms Development LLC, TR Oregon Holdings Inc., and ICON Construction and Development — the general contractor and Gray’s direct employer — alleging failures in basic workplace safety. An OSHA report identified multiple safety violations at the site.
“What happened here is astonishing,” said attorney Joe Piucci, representing Gray’s family. “You can’t send a kid out into a street to lie down with no spotters, no flaggers, no signs, no warning. This is construction level 101.”
Lucas Gray was just beginning his adult life. His family says they want this lawsuit to send a clear message: every worker deserves to come home safe.
