Wingate, Russotti, Shapiro, Moses & Halperin, LLP, attorney David M. Hoffman was able to obtain a settlement in the amount of $6,500,000.00 for a 50-year-old construction worker who was injured at a jobsite. The plaintiff was caused to fall from a height while working as a carpenter on an elevated section of Doka form work wall at the construction project known as the Rehab of Kew Gardens Interchange, at the Van Wyck Expressway (I-678) between 86th Avenue and Grand Central Parkway in the County of Queens. He fell approximately 25 feet to the roadway when working at this construction site.
The plaintiff was injured because the defendants failed to provide him with a proper harness or safety device, and as an alternative failed to provide a crane or boom lift for him to perform his work. The defendants argued that the plaintiff was provided with an appropriate harness or safety device but failed to correctly utilize it.
As a result of this incident, the plaintiff suffered serious and permanent trauma to his head, including intracranial injury, subdural hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, traumatic brain injury, and cognitive deficits. The plaintiff also sustained multiple fractures and lacerations to his nose and face that required facial reconstruction surgery, loss of teeth, a broken knee, and injuries to his shoulder that required surgery.