Construction Injury - Scaffolding Accident
WRSMH obtained a $2,950,000 settlement for a 37-year-old Ecuadorian carpenter who was injured while working at a construction site. At the time of the accident the plaintiff was working on a 7-foot Baker Scaffold installing sheet rock. The wheels on the scaffold did not lock properly and it also lacked safety rails. As the plaintiff was standing on the platform and installing sheet rock, he reached down for his screw gun and the scaffold shifted to the left and then away from the wall, which caused the plaintiff to fall 7 feet to the concrete floor.
As a result of the accident the plaintiff sustained a traumatic brain injury, a comminuted or splintering of the bone into more than 2 fragments intra-articular radius fracture to his left wrist, a left shoulder rotator cuff and labral tear, a right shoulder rotator cuff and labral tear, and a herniated disc at L4-5.
The plaintiff required a lumbar fusion at L4-5, arthroscopic surgery to the left shoulder, arthroscopic surgery to the right shoulder and a closed reduction of the left wrist.
During depositions we established that the defendants had violated Labor Law Section 240 in failing to provide the plaintiff with a proper safety device to perform his work. The scaffold failed to have properly functioning wheels that locked and safety rails. At the time of the settlement, motions were pending seeking Summary Judgment on plaintiff’s claim that the defendants violated Labor Law 240. The case was resolved at mediation for $2,950,000.