$4.1 Million for Spinal Injury of Construction Worker
Jan 08, 2010OUTCOME: $4.1 million settlement from stair collapse
Through aggressive investigation and discovery, we obtained $4.1 million for a construction worker with a burst fracture of his vertebrae caused when a staircase he was walking on at a construction sit ... e collapsed. We proved to the general contractor, carpentry subcontractors, and architect and design engineer that the staircase had inadequate specifications, improper construction, was improperly destabilized during the construction process, and was inadquately monitored. Through medical and vocational experts, we were able to demonstrate $2 million in present value damages for medical expenses and lost earnings, and, despite the fact that the Plaintiff could walk, drive, carry out family tasks, and was, except for his pain complex, in good health, that he was permanently totally disabled at age 36. An essential step of obtaining such a settlement was litigating and preserving jurisdiction in Massachusetts in Federal court, as opposed to litigating in New Hampshire, where settlements and trial values are historically significantly lower.
