Lawyers representing the family of a Hauula man killed in a cesspool last month filed a lawsuit in Circuit Court on Monday.

The suit claimed the sewer project he was working on was dangerous.

Rescue crews rushed to a yard in Laie on Dec. 12, 2007.

Pauu Pooi was working on a project to replace all the cesspools in the neighborhood with a new sewer system.

He was standing on a concrete cover when it gave way without warning. He dropped 30 feet into the cesspool and was buried by tons of debris.

It took crews nearly 9 hours to get Pooi's body out. Family members waited in agony.

Pooi worked for RN Construction, a subcontractor for Coriolis, the company in charge of the replacement project.

Both are named as defendants in the lawsuit, along with Hawaii Reserves, which manages and owns property affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

The suit claimed these defendants "should have known at the time of Pauu Pooi's incident that the area was unsafe and constituted a dangerous condition."

The lawsuit also alleged the companies did not adequately warn users, including Pooi, about the hazards and "failed to eliminate or guard against the unreasonable risk of harm presented by the unsafe condition of the area."

Tongan church members described Pooi as a family man. The suit seeks unspecified damages for his wife and three daughters.

A spokesman for Hawaii Reserves declined to comment since company officials had not yet seen the lawsuit.

Representatives for RN Construction and Coriolis could not be reached for comment.

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