Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller filed a “Iowa One Call” lawsuit in Marion County, alleging contractors conducted illegal excavations, including one that led to the deaths of two people in 2020.

The incident in Pella involved MCS Communications of Concord, North Carolina. According to the petition, MCS failed on six occasions to exercise due care when conducting excavations to install fiber optic cable in Pella in 2020. On Aug. 1st, 2020, a MCS crew hit an electrical line with a jackhammer, resulting in the electrocution of two employees and the injury of a third. Genis Urgell Rueda, 35, and Nelson Joani Figueroa, 20, both of Richmond, Virginia, were pronounced dead on scene. Other excavations damaged natural gas pipelines and a telecommunications line.

MCS agreed to resolve the matter with a consent decree, admitting to the violations, and agreed to pay a $10,000 civil penalty in addition to injunctive relief prohibiting future violations.

The One Call law requires anyone who digs, excavates or trenches privately or commercially to first contact the Iowa One Call center to locate underground utilities and to exercise due care when excavating in a marked area to avoid damaging the underground utilities. The law also requires that the owners and operators of utilities timely and accurately locate and mark underground facilities in response to a locate request for a planned excavation. The maximum penalty allowed under the One Call law is $10,000 for each day of violations involving natural gas pipelines, and $1,000 for each day of violations involving other underground lines.

Separately, the Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued several citations to MCS. The company paid a $12,250 penalty as a result.