Family Sues Trucking Company After Father of 12 Suffocates Amid Toxic Fumes in Preventable Workplace Incident, according to attorney Sim Osborn

Trucking company had a troubled safety history

SEATTLE, Feb. 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The family of a 56-year-old truck driver and father of 12, has filed a lawsuit against a Washington state trucking company claiming it directed the man to clean a truck tanker filled with toxic fumes, causing his death on June 7, 2024

The man, Viktor Voloshin, was transporting emulsified sulfur, a highly toxic material, for Pasco, WA-based Two Rivers Terminal (Two Rivers), an agricultural products supplier. After delivering the material to Two Rivers, company employees directed Voloshin to clean the interior of the tank and provided him with a ladder to enter the tanker container, the complaint states.

According to court documents, Voloshin was overcome by the toxic fumes, and his body was discovered at the bottom of the tanker an hour later after a Two Rivers employee became concerned.

Court documents also show that it took first responders nearly three hours to arrive with the appropriate safety gear to allow them to enter the tanker, determine that Voloshin had died, and recover his body while Voloshin's family gathered at the terminal waiting for help to arrive and powerless to help him. 

According to Simeon Osborn, one of the attorneys representing the Voloshin family, Two Rivers has a long and troubled history of ignoring established safety guidelines and has been the target of several state actions.

Court documents show the state Department of Labor and Industries fined the company nearly a half-million dollars in 2023 for allowing another worker to open a railcar also filled with toxic gas hydrogen sulfide, causing him to pass out and fall 12 feet. That worker suffered serious injuries from the fall.

"Reading the state notices of violation against Two Rivers that precede Viktor's death is deeply troubling," Osborn said. "The state fined Two Rivers for actions that mirror what led to Viktor's death."

"Unfortunately, the civil justice system doesn't allow us to shut down a serial violator for causing someone's death," Osborn added. "All we can do is ask a jury of Victor's peers to level a financial penalty on Two Rivers that is so significant that it compels them to take steps to prevent this from happening again."

David Wieck, the Voloshin's other lead attorney, noted that Viktor and his wife exemplified the American Dream.

"When Viktor immigrated from Ukraine with his wife seeking a better future for his family, he knew that the fastest path to that security was through hard work, Wieck noted. "He worked as a truck driver, often away from for long stretches of time, but his efforts allowed he and his wife to raise their children and provide them the opportunity for an education."

"My father was the glue that held us together," said Dmitriy Voloshin, one of Viktor's seven sons, a Washington State University graduate and a 27-year-old electrical engineer. "He worked tirelessly to give us opportunities he never had and instilled in us a work ethic each of his kids carry with them today."

Wieck noted that Viktor's youngest child is in middle school with another in high school.

Dmitriy described the anguish of waiting outside the tanker, knowing his father was trapped inside. "It was the most helpless feeling in the world, standing there, knowing he was dying or already gone," Dmitriy said. "No family should have to endure what we went through."

The family hopes the lawsuit will ensure accountability and safety reforms. "This isn't just about my dad," Dmitriy added. "It's about preventing tragedies like this from happening to anyone else. My younger siblings deserve the chance to grow up with the opportunities my dad worked so hard for us to have."

The lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court, seeks damages for the family's economic and emotional losses and calls for significant reforms in workplace safety practices.

For more information on Simeon Osborn, visit www.osbornmachler.com. For David Wieck, visit www.wiecklegal.com.

Case 25-2-03727-4 SEA

SOURCE Osborn Machler & Neff