He was buried alive. The builder responsible owes his widow $3.85 million, NC jury says

A North Carolina home builder owes $3.85 million to the widow of a worker who was buried alive in a 2014 trench collapse, a jury has ruled.

Kirk Mitcham died within seconds of being lowered with an excavator into the 12-foot trench on Blackbird Hill Lane in Mint Hill, according to a lawsuit filed by his estate and wife, Christy, against BB Carolina Holdings LLC. BB Carolina is the legal entity formed after Indian Trail-based Bonterra Builders LLC was acquired by another home builder in 2015.

The 46-year-old Mitcham worked for a local grading company that Bonterra called in to help find an underground sewer tap, according to the lawsuit. A plumbing contractor had failed to find the tap, the lawsuit said. Bonterra planned to build a home on the site and have the home hook into the tap.

The sides reached a confidential settlement after a Union County jury awarded the $3.85 million in compensatory damages, lawyer Sam McGee of the Charlotte law firm Tin Fulton Walker & Owen said when reached by the Observer on Wednesday night. McGee and Charlotte lawyer Jon Moore of Brown, Moore & Associates represented Mitcham's estate.

The verdict was first reported Wednesday by North Carolina Lawyers Weekly magazine.

Officials with Bonterra Builders could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.

"Kirk was a hard worker and a fun-loving guy," McGee said of Mitcham. "He loved his family and took great pride in his work. According to everyone who knew him, he always went the extra mile."

This story was originally published May 9, 2018 at 11:13 PM with the headline "He was buried alive. The builder responsible owes his widow $$3.85 million, NC jury says."