New York Construction Accident
Wingate, Russotti, Shapiro, Moses & Halperin, LLP attorneys Erin Hurley and Stephen Wagner obtained a settlement of $2,900,000 plus a full waiver of a Workers’ Compensation lien for a 45-year-old Essex County, New Jersey construction worker who fell while climbing down a wooden ladder on a jobsite when a rung broke, causing him to hit a wall.
The case settled following private mediation held two business days before jury selection in New York Supreme Court, Kings County. The defendants submitted affidavits from four witnesses at the jobsite who all claimed there was nothing wrong with the ladder and that our client said he made a misstep on a rung close to the floor. Crucially, however, the defendants took photographs of the bottom of the ladder after the incident but not the top of the ladder, where our client fell from, casting doubt on their claims.
Our client underwent neck spinal surgery, sacroiliac surgery, and shoulder surgery as a result of his injuries. The defendants’ medical opinion witnesses claimed that the plaintiff’s symptoms were due to degenerative changes.