$3.925 Million Settlement for Injuries Sustained in a Construction Site Fall

Larry Bendesky, Robert Zimmerman, and Peter Veloski secured a $3.925 million settlement for their 62-year-old client who suffered debilitating injuries, including a traumatic brain injury, in a construction site fall occurring in March 2017.

The accident occurred during a construction project in which workers, including the Plaintiff, were restoring the concrete exterior of a beach-front condominium. The Plaintiff suffered a fall when the suspension cable supporting the temporary access system used to reach the upper floors of the building contacted an electrical current, causing the cable to fail, and sending Plaintiff falling to the concrete twenty feet below.

A product liability and negligence lawsuit was filed against the manufacturer of the temporary access system, the rental company that distributed the product, the engineering firm that oversaw the construction project, the construction manager, the property owner, and its property manager.

The lawsuit alleged the product had a defective design and that the temporary access system should have been provided with a protective sleeve to guard the suspension cable from the foreseeable conditions that caused the failure. SMB also argued that the engineering firm and other parties overseeing the completion of the construction project failed to ensure the temporary access system was properly installed.

Defendants argued that Plaintiff and his employer were at fault for the accident, since they erected the access system and chose how to run the lines and where they would be connected.

“This settlement will provide our client with the care he needs. It should also send a message to construction equipment manufacturers and rental companies that their products must be provided with all of the necessary safety components needed to prevent injuries to operators.” – Larry Bendesky

“We proved Defendants knew their product needed protective sleeves to be safely installed to prevent this type of accident, but they didn’t provide this crucial safety component or even advise their customers that it was needed. Companies must know their products well enough to ensure they are providing their customers with the equipment they need to safely use the product.” – Robert Zimmerman

“The evidence also proved that the engineering firm that approved the installation had to make sure it was not endangering the workers on the project. Here, the engineering firm could not escape the reality that construction safety is a shared responsibility that must be taken seriously to avoid serious injuries.” – Peter Veloski.