Lawsuit Filed Over PA Grandmother's Sinkhole Death

GREENSBURG, PA — The husband of a grandmother who died after falling into a sinkhole while searching for her cat has filed a lawsuit against the property owners where the sinkhole was located.

The lawsuit was filed by Kenneth Pollard against Monday's Union Restaurant in Unity Township, which owns the property where the sinkhole emerged.

The other defendant in the lawsuit, which seeks an unspecified amount of damages, is U.S. Steel. The company owns the abandoned mine into which Pollard fell.

Pollard was found in the mine in December 2024 - three days after she disappeared into the 20-foot sinkhole.

Westmoreland County Coroner Tim Carson said in an autopsy report that Pollard died of head and torso injuries. It's unknown whether she died in the fall or afterward.

An exhaustive and hazardous search of the abandoned mine into which Pollard plummeted turned up only a shoe for days until her body was discovered about 12 feet from the sinkhole.

WPXI-TV reported that the lawsuit states that the restaurant and mine owner were responsible for keeping the area around the sinkhole safe and failed to do so.

“Elizabeth Pollard should still be alive. The defendants’ alleged failure to provide and maintain a safe environment caused her preventable and untimely death," Morgan & Morgan law firm founder John Morgan and plaintiff attorney Mark Malone said in a joint statement.

"This lawsuit seeks to hold these entities accountable for their alleged negligence, which has robbed a family of a beloved wife, mother, and grandmother. The Pollards deserve justice, and we will fight to ensure no other family is forced to endure a devastating loss like this."