2 Families File Lawsuits Against Nippon Steel for Wrongful Death at Clairton Plant 

Safety at Work

The wife of Steven Menefee and the sister of Timothy Quinn both filed lawsuits last week in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas suing for wrongful death. Both Menefee and Quinn were killed in an explosion, involving a coke-gas oven at the Clairton Coke Plant on August 11, 2025.  

The filing of those civil lawsuits list Nippon Steel, MPW Industrial Services, and Valves incorporated for alleged negligence.   

Trisha Lynn Quinn, the sister of Timothy Quinn,39, alleges that if the owner Nippon Steel had addressed ongoing, known safety concerns at the facility when it took over U.S. Steel, her brother would still be alive.  

Danielle Menefee, the wife of Steven Menefee, complaint also includes claims for negligence in the death of her husband Steven Menefee,52, that same day.  

Both complaints allege that the explosion at 13-14 Coke Battery transfer area was caused by the rupture of an 18-inch cast-iron valve, which then released coke oven gas into the area that ignited.   

That valve, according to the lawsuit, never should have been in a position to fail the way it did – one of the series of missteps Quinn claims led to the deadly explosion.  

The lawsuits also allege that Nippon did not ensure safety standards were followed when it took over U.S. Steel;  MPW used improper methods to clean the leaking valve and Valves  Inc.  failed to recommend the old cast-iron valve be replaced by more flexible steel.   

Earlier this year, following its own investigation, the Occupational  Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined U.S. Steel $118,000 for 10 violations stemming from the Clairton Coke Works explosion.  

Of those, nine were for inadequate safety procedures, employee training, and equipment to isolate machines from energy sources.  The final violation asserted that U.S. Steel failed to supply the agency with incident reports in a timely fashion.  OSHA also cited MPW for nine violation stemming from procedural  and training issues, totaling $61,000.  

Robert Strauss, a professor of economics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University, said Nippon Steel may not have realized what it was getting into.  “This is going to be an interesting case,’’ said Strauss.  

The last major explosion at the coke works came in 2010. Some 14 employees and six workers were injured. OSHA originally fined U.S. Steel $175,000 for factors that may have contributed to the incident; the company got it knocked down to $75,000 under a settlement agreement.  

Nippon Steel Corporation is Japan’s largest steelmaker and a top-four global producer. It acquired U.S. Steel in June 2025 to bolster its global footprint in producing high-performance  steel for automotive, infrastructure and energy.  

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