New York Construction Accident - Trip and Fall
WRSMH attorney Carmine Goncalves secured a $4,300,000 settlement for our client, a 44-year-old construction worker who was working on the outside walls of a newly constructed building. Our client was carrying a heavy concrete form several stories up on a scaffold with a coworker when he tripped over a pile of debris that had been left behind by other workers. The debris had been present for weeks due to a lack of proper cleaning and debris removal procedures at the work site. After tripping, our client fell backward and was hit by the form he had helped carry, which weighed over 100 pounds. He was taken to the hospital for emergency treatment.
Although our client was given light-duty work for a few months after the accident, he eventually had to stop working and seek medical help for injuries to his neck, back, left knee, and right wrist. This led to four surgeries, including painful neck and back fusions with hardware.
In an attempt to avoid responsibility for the accident, our client’s employer tried to claim that he had been fired half an hour before the accident. However, workers’ compensation accepted the case because this claim was not believable or provable. The case was settled at a second mediation while motions pertaining to liability were still being considered by the court.