ComEd Bribery Scheme Could Affect Electrocution Death Lawsuit

WEST CHICAGO, IL — A West Chicago widow suing Commonwealth Edison over its role in her husband's fatal electrocution believes the utility giant’s recently revealed bribery scheme could explain why state regulators didn’t investigate his death, according to a report by the Chicago Tribune.

Jeanette Zulauf and her nephew, Jordan, filed a wrongful death suit against ComEd after Robert Zulauf, 32, was killed in November 2016 by an electrified ComEd wire while working on a cable line in Sterling, the report states.

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The lawsuit alleges ComEd improperly installed an insulator in 1968, allowing a loose guy wire — the diagonal cable that stabilizes utility poles — to become electrified while Robert and Jordan Zulauf were working on a cable line.

After the electrified wire shocked Jordan and knocked him on unconscious, Robert rushed to help him but was electrocuted and burst into flames, according to multiple reports. Jordan, who was 23 at the time, was severely injured in the electrocution and had both of his arms amputated.

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The Illinois Commerce Commission, which regulates utility companies in the state, did not conduct its own investigation into Zulauf’s death — instead relying on ComEd’s investigation — and the commission never cited ComEd for the improperly installed, decades-old insulator that violated state and federal guidelines, according to reports.

The Chicago Tribune reports the ICC has two engineers to inspect millions of utility poles, while ComEd employs 30 inspectors for its 1.4 million poles.

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Federal prosecutors on Friday revealed ComEd agreed to pay a $200 million fine for allegedly bribing Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) with lucrative jobs, contracts and payments. According to the charges, ComEd paid Madigan and his associates more than $1.3 million for “little to no work for ComEd” between 2011 and 2019 in exchange for legislation that favored the utility company.

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Though the bribery allegations do not involve the ICC, Jeanette Zulauf told the Chicago Tribune she believes it’s possible state regulators looked the other way on unsafe, outdated lines due to ComEd’s connections. Zulauf family attorneys will attempt to depose those involved in the alleged bribery scheme to see how much influence ComEd held over the ICC, the report states.

“With all the emotions I’m feeling right now, I feel suffocated,” Jeanette Zulauf told the Tribune. “Anger, annoyance, frustration, sadness. I’m feeling all of that. It’s all bringing me back to those first couple of days after it happened.”

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