AMARILLO – Matthews and Associates have been hired by the wife of an engineer who was killed Oct. 17, 2006 when a metal rope line he was spooling yanked him onto the spool drum and crushed him. Amarillo native Michael Blaine, 32, was positioning a metal cable in the assembly of an oil rig when the mishap occurred.

We contend that the drum design was faulty; that the control panel lacked sensitivity; that another man fed the cable too fast; and that other spooling procedures were substandard. An OSHA investigation by the U.S. Dept. of Labor determined in April 2007 that “the sand-line drum was not guarded effectively to prevent an accident.”

The defendant, Stoehr Wire Rope, contends Mr. Blaine was solely at fault. A Texas jury will decide who is right.