Family of 18-year-old killed at Oregon City construction site files $35M lawsuit
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OREGON CITY Ore. (KPTV) – The family of an 18-year-old killed at an Oregon City construction site last summer has filed a wrongful death lawsuit, after a report by OSHA identified multiple workplace safety violations at the site.
The family of Lucas Gray filed the $35 million lawsuit against Serres Farms Development, LLC and TR Oregon Holdings, Inc. — two developers that oversaw the construction project by ICON Construction and Development, where Gray worked. It also describes Icon as the general contractor and Gray’s direct employer, alleging the company failed to follow basic safety measures that could have prevented his death.
Gray was working the morning of July 23, 2025, at the Serres Farm residential development near the intersection of Kaylyn Drive and Pomidor Place. OSHA investigators wrote that Gray was lying face down on the pavement, reaching into an in-road water valve box to clear sediment and debris, when a John Deere 544L wheel loader weighing about 30,500 pounds entered the intersection and ran over him.
OSHA’s file says the operator stopped the machine 5 to 8 feet past the point of contact and that Gray died at the scene.
Gray’s mother, Catherine Gray, said that day still haunts her.
She remembers the moment her family learned he had been killed and rushed to the site in Oregon City.
“When we arrived, my son was on the pavement,” she said. “And he was covered with a yellow tarp, and I only saw his little boots and his hat off to the side and a flow of blood running down the street.”
She described Lucas as an athlete and a devout Christian who was recently inducted into the Wrestling Hall of Fame at West Linn High School and had been set to attend the University of Utah. She said reminders still come unexpectedly.
“Even somebody coming down the street wearing a Utah shirt is something that is a reminder and painful,” she said.
Oregon OSHA cited Icon Construction & Development LLC, Gray’s employer, for a “serious” violation that the agency said “caused or contributed to” a work-related fatality. The proposed penalty was $31,632.
The citation says the company did not do enough to protect workers on foot from being hit or pinned by moving heavy equipment while work was happening in the streets of the development. OSHA said basic safeguards could have reduced the risk — including setting up traffic control like cones, barricades or warning signs, assigning a dedicated spotter to watch for approaching equipment, and making sure equipment operators and workers on the ground had a clear way to communicate about who was where and when machines were moving.
OSHA’s inspection file also includes a text message sent just over a week before the fatality that suggests problems with jobsite communication and oversight.
On July 15, 2025, the wheel loader operator who was involved in the incident with Gray, texted an Icon manager:
“Tensions are definitely rising at serres. Literally no one and I mean not one person is on the same page,” according to OSHA’s documents. The message continues: “Usually this can be mitigated by a leader who is doing a good job communicating with guys, answering questions, and consistently checking and ensuring everyone knows the overall goal … this is not happening. It has everyone trying to do what they think is best with little to no direction, all going in different directions and causing a lot of unnecessary frustration amongst people, and causing what I believe to be an unorganized and unproductive site… There’s no accountability.”
Investigators also wrote that the site’s superintendent wasn’t at the jobsite at the time of the incident, allegedly leaving to buy ice for water — a detail included in OSHA’s “findings and justifications” section. An employee told OSHA investigators that the supervisor was “known for leaving the site multiple times a day.”
Icon appealed the OSHA citation, and Oregon OSHA said the appeal remains pending. The agency said it does not comment on pending appeals, but noted that the employer has corrected the violations identified in the investigation.
The wrongful death lawsuit, filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court by the Estate of Lucas Gray, describes a chaotic and uncontrolled work zone where Gray and another worker were assigned to clean water valve access points in the street, requiring them to lie prone in an active intersection.
The complaint alleges there were “no safety cones, no barricades, no flagging, and no warning signs of any kind” around the area where Gray was working, and it says there was no spotter and no coordinated traffic management plan while multiple pieces of heavy equipment operated on site.
Joe Piucci, an attorney for the family, said the case is about more than a single moment or a single operator.
“What happened here is astonishing,” Piucci said. “This is construction level 101 violations.” He added: “You can’t send a kid out into a street to lie down in the street with no spotters, no flaggers, no signs, no warning.”
Catherine Gray said she felt OSHA’s findings confirmed what she believed she saw at the scene.
“When I saw the findings, I was validated to read what I saw visually,” she said, adding that she did not see “the normal safety standards” she expected at a site with large excavation equipment.
She said her family wants accountability and changes that prevent other families from experiencing the same loss.
“It makes me feel really sad that my baby wasn’t protected,” she said. “I trusted this company to protect my 18-year-old, and that didn’t happen.”
In a statement, Icon general manager Darren Gusdorf called Gray’s death “a tragic accident” and said the company is “committed to ensuring a tragedy of this magnitude never happens again.” The company said it could not comment further due to “pending litigation.”
The lawsuit requests a jury trial, although Piucci estimated that the case would likely take about 12-18 months to resolve.
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