NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Roy Oakey is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the truth about his brother’s death, but in the meantime, he’s hoping a lawsuit will lead to some answers.

“[It’s been] pure hell,” Roy Oakey said in a Monday morning interview. “My brother was my best friend. It kills me every day.”

Kenny Oakey was working on a barge at Colonna’s Shipyard. He had been called in to work on a Saturday morning. Less than an hour into his shift, Oakey sustained catastrophic injuries. Colonna’s told the family Kenny Oakey fell from a ladder.

“How does a man fall from supposedly a ladder and have skull fractures? Rib fractures, spinal fractures all throughout his body, and we have no way to explain it, so we need answers,” said Kevin Biniazan, attorney for the family.

To get those answers the Oakey family is suing Colonna’s for $45 million for negligence and wrongful death.

“My brother was worth more than any amount of money in this world,” Roy Oakey said. “We’ve got a a tight-knit family. We loved one another. And this has been pure hell.”

The Breit Biniazan law firm has recovered multi-million dollar amounts for clients, including a billion-dollar award in the Deepwater Horizon case from 2010, according to its website. Biniazan says Colonna’s has not met even the lowest of bars when it comes to cooperation.

“[I’d expect] some affirmative level of communication, some sharing of documentation, some confirmation of what happened or didn’t happen,” Biniazan said. “Right now, it’s almost a situation of make us tell you.”

OSHA investigated and fined Colonna’s $55,000. The family says company surveillance video showed the lead-up to Kenny Oakey’s injuries, and the aftermath, but not the critical moment itself.

“The cameras went off and they did not come back on until EMS was working on him, trying to revive him on the barge,” Roy Oakey said.

Said Biniazan: “There should have been a surveillance camera that captured the the barge itself and that surveillance video does not exist. That doesn’t mean it didn’t exist. We’ll find the answer to that in this lawsuit.”

“My brother needs justice,” Roy Oakey said. “It’s been two years, and the family suffers every day over this with the loss of my brother. I just hope somebody comes forward.”

10 On Your Side contacted Colonna’s Friday and Monday for response to the lawsuit, filed last week in Norfolk Circuit Court. the company did not immediately respond.

Biniazan says he hopes that the lawsuit can come to trial by late next year.