Construction Accidents

Brown v. Marr Equip. Corp., 355 Mass. 724 (1969)  The plaintiff, an employee of the subcontractor, may not recover against the defendant where the plaintiff’s employer and the general contractor both provide worker’s compensation benefits under G. L. c. 152 and the employee failed to reserve his common law rights.

Carpenter's unwitnessed fall at construction site  Settlement with general contractor for death due to fall in unguarded area of a residential home construction project.

Construction accident - defective formwork  Product liability settlement against distributor of TAR Waller and general contractor for injuries to carpenter foreman who fell when loop on wall formwork broke causing fall.

Constructon site  Slab of concrete fell from ceiling of a building under construction causing serious injury to plaintiff. The contractor, mechanical engineer, and architect denied responsibility for locating and securing the slab. By starting with the original building plans from the 1900s and working forward to the current renovations, were able to show the responsibility of each. Settlement from all defendants.

Courtemanche v. AT&T Co., 47 Mass. App. Ct. 1119 (1999)  The dismissal of the plaintiff’s case by the trial court was reversed, and a new trial was ordered. Sugarman lawyers successfully argued to the appellate court that the plaintiff had shown sufficient evidence that a jury could reasonably infer that the accident was caused by the defendant’s negligence.

Craneway collapse at Fore River Shipyard  Settlement for the four young children of a construction worker who was killed when a massive steel craneway collapsed. The general contractor failed to develop an engineering or demolition plan for the dismantling of the craneway and made cuts to the craneway that left a portion of it a free standing structure without securing the it or warning any of the workers at the site of the danger posed by the free standing structure.

Electrocution to construction worker on a residential construction site  Settlement for an excavation worker who attempted to place caution tape over low hanging electrical wires, to warn operators of other construction vehicles.

Ironworker falls 30 feet from Boston highrise  Settlement for multiple fractures to ironworker who fell while erecting the steel frame of a new Boston highrise. General contractor failed to require 100% fall protection.

Lack of fall protection at construction site  Settlement for death of 29-year-old plasterer working on a construction site in central Massachusetts.

Lang v. Edward J. Lamothe Co., 20 Mass. App. Ct. 231 (1985)  Where the defendant did not pay worker’s compensations benefits to the plaintiff, the defendant did not receive the benefit of the workers’ compensation exemption of employers from tort liability.