Cory Barron

Lawyers for the family of Cory Barron say the Cleveland Indians organization was warned several times about faulty locks and doors leading to garbage chutes in Progressive Field, including the chute down which Barron fell to his death during a 2014 country music concert.

(Cleveland police)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Lawyers for the family of Cory Barron say the Cleveland Indians organization was warned several times about faulty locks and doors leading to garbage chutes at Progressive Field in the months before the man fell five stories to his death during a 2014 country music concert.

Court documents filed Wednesday claim that a door manufacturer and an expert hired by the stadium's insurance company warned the Indians in the months before the 22-year-old's death that the doors leading to the room containing the garbage chute that Barron would eventually fall through needed to be repaired. The locks on the chute and several others were faulty, the documents say.

The issues were among several areas of potential improvement at the stadium identified by the inspector, records say.

The lawsuit, filed by lawyers Craig Bashein and Mark Koberna on behalf of Barron's father, Matthew Barron, asks for at least $150,000 in damages from 15 defendants, including the Indians, Gateway Economic Development Corporation, Delaware North Corporation, Live Nation and subsidiaries.

The organizations have denied any wrongdoing in Barron's death in previous court filings. A spokesman for the Indians declined to comment Thursday night.

Barron disappeared during the July 18, 2014, concert featuring a number of big-name country music acts, including Jason Aldean. Barron's body was discovered four days later at a landfill near Oberlin. Investigators determined that he fell down a five-story garbage chute in the stadium's upper deck along the left field foul line.

The lawsuit described the concert's atmosphere as "exactly as advertised."

"As predicted, there were numerous fights, altercations, physical confrontations, ejections and arrests at the concert," the lawsuit says. "There were also numerous inebriated concert goers who required medical attention and/or assistance."

Attorney W. Craig Bashein says he uncovered internal memos and a written report from a "national expert in stadium and ballpark safety" hired by the ballpark's insurance company. The court filings do not name the expert or the insurance company, or include a copy of the reports.

The door company, Cleveland Door, that was hired to make repairs on the door hinge on the garbage chute that Barron later fell through warned in March 2014 that the doors leading to the chute "need replaced," the lawsuit says.

Cleveland Door noted again in May that the doors needed to be replaced, the lawsuit says.

Around the same time, a national expert in stadium safety hired by the stadium's insurance company noted that the locks to the chute were broken, and that the door leading to the chute was left open, the suit says.

The suit also says that an Indians employee sent a memo to the stadium's maintenance manager saying that the doors leading to the chute needed to be locked, the suit claims.

The same expert in June sent the team a written report that, the lawsuit claims, specifically warned that team that the locks on the doors leading to the chute were broken.

To comment on this story, please visit cleveland.com's crime and courts comments section.

cleveland.com is a partner of the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. Every dollar buys four meals for the hungry. Click here to donate.