Construction Accidents – Sample Cases
… A 44-year-old appliance delivery man injured his back when a wooden deck collapsed from the weight of a refrigerator. A contractor had attached the deck to the house with small metal screws rather than large lag bolts. A couple that had recently bought the house had ignored a warning about this dangerous condition in a home inspection report. The case settled after depositions were taken.
… A 47-year-old brick mason’s helper was working inside a church under construction. Several 60 foot wooden roof trusses collapsed and fell on him, fracturing two bones in his back. Investigation revealed that this was no act of God, however. The roof framing contractor, in a rush to complete the job, did not follow the manufacturer’s specifications in bracing the trusses. The job superintendent, instead of shutting the job down, took photographs to document the poor workmanship. The mason’s helper can no longer do heavy labor and has no skills or aptitude for other jobs. This case settled shortly before trial after a court-ordered mediation conference.
… A 50-year-old salesman slipped and fell on ice under the canopy outside the main entrance of a national hotel chain. After he fell, the motel put up caution tape because others had already fallen and the area was treacherous. The area under the canopy had recently been replaced with a ceramic-type tile, a material more suited for indoor than outdoor surfaces. After the motel was sued, the motel, in turn, sued the contractor that installed the tile. The salesman, who severely injured his neck, was never able to return to his sales position and had to take lower paying jobs. The case settled shortly before trial at a settlement conference.
… A 37-year-old bartender was helping his friend lay pipe for the renovation of a store in a strip mall. Because the work schedules were not properly coordinated, other workers were removing a plaster ceiling as the two men worked below. A large section of the ceiling collapsed, fracturing the man’s ankle. The general contract claimed that the man was his friend’s “employee”. An employee cannot sue for injuries because of Pennsylvania’s workers’ compensation laws. After extensive investigation and several depositions, the case settled.
… A 23-year-old tractor trailer driver delivered cutting edges for backhoe buckets. They weighed about 100 pounds each and there were 7 edges banded together. As an employee of another company was unloading the edges with a fork lift, the band snapped. The cutting edges fell on the driver’s foot, severely injuring his big toe. After a lawsuit was filed against the company that employed the fork lift operator, the case settled. Part of the settlement was used to repay the driver’s worker’s compensation insurer for his past benefits for this claim.
… A 59-year-old toll collector was walking to the lunch room for his break. He had to cross plywood walkways placed for road construction. A contractor’s workman had carelessly spilled slag on the plywood while shoveling it into the nearby roadway bed. The toll collector slipped on the slag and fell, injuring his back, knee and shoulder. He also had closed head injury. After a lawsuit was filed and litigation commenced, the case settled with the contractor’s insurer.
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