Brad Zawislak with his wife, Helen Furuya.
June 16, 2023 - 6:00 AM
A woman whose husband was killed in a tragic downtown Kelowna crane collapse is taking three companies and five people to court.
Helen Furuya lost her husband's "love, guidance, care, ... and financial support" when he died in the collapse in July 2021, according to a notice of claim filed in BC Supreme Court.
READ MORE: Kelowna crane collapse victim 'not a footnote' to the tragedy: Family
Five men were killed July 12, 2021 when the crane at the Brooklyn apartment tower fell. Four were working at the construction site, but Furuya's husband, Brad Zawislak, was buried under rubble in his office next door.
"He was an innocent bystander who did not accept the risks entailed in working on a site like that, yet paid with his life for whatever caused that crane to collapse," Furuya's sister Kelly told iNFOnews.ca in an email last year.
Furuya started an online fundraiser after Zawislak's death, collecting $320,730 to support her and their two daughters.
READ MORE: WorkSafeBC investigation into fatal Kelowna crane collapse complete
Stemmer Construction Ltd, out of Salmon Arm, was named as one of the defendants, but Furuya's notice of claim includes two more unnamed companies, four unnamed men and a woman.
Stemmer Construction owned the crane that collapsed and two of the owner's sons were among the five men killed.
Furuya is seeking damages and costs for the "negligence" that caused her husband's death, according to the claim. Court documents don't detail an exact amount she's seeking.
The collapse has been under investigation for nearly two years, with no criminal charges laid so far.
WorkSafeBC completed its investigation in May, but it won't release the findings until an RCMP criminal investigation comes to a close.
Go here for more of our coverage of the crane collapse.
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