Rumford Paper Mill Owners Face Lawsuit After Employee's 85-Foot Fall

RUMFORD – The owners of a paper mill in Rumford are now at the center of a federal lawsuit.

It claims that workplace safety rules were violated and contributed to a fall that left a worker with life-altering injuries.

A lawsuit filed against ND Paper and several other companies alleges workplace safety violations played a role in 35-year-old Damion Hatcher falling nearly eight stories "into the opening of a chimney while performing cleaning services."

“They were simply being held in place on the adjacent walls by way of tension,” attorney Meryl Poulin said.

Poulin is the attorney representing Hatcher’s wife, who filed the lawsuit.

She says he ended up tripping and falling onto the poles.

"The bottom pole completely fell down onto the floor below," Poulin said.

That's when Poulin says Hatcher plummeted 85 feet down the chimney, landing on his head.

Hatcher survived the fall. His attorneys call it a miracle he’s alive, even after nearly 30 minutes before he was found. They say his life will never be the same.

“He has a very long road ahead of him,” Poulin said. “He cannot walk. He cannot talk.”

Hatcher was left with several broken bones and a traumatic brain injury, which the lawsuit says has left him incapable of caring for himself.

Last year, ND Paper was forced to pay more than $20,000 after federal inspectors cited four workplace safety violations, two of them tied to the same scaffolding poles labeled as "serious citations."