Workplace Accidents

SUGARMAN’s attorneys were able to obtain a settlement during discovery in a case involving the tragic death of an iron worker. Due to inadequate fall protection at a construction site in Boston, the worker, who was only 30 years old, fell several stories to his death in an unguarded stairwell. After SUGARMAN’s attorney conducted several depositions establishing the defendants’ negligence and failure to oversee the construction being performed by the worker’s employer, the defendants and their insurers initiated settlement discussions. The worker was survived by his wife and two young children.

SUGARMAN’s practice has long included the representation of clients in serious workplace accident cases. Given the nature of many industrial and commercial work environments, these matters frequently involve catastrophic injury or death. While such incidents are not everyday occurrences, they continue to arise in a wide range of settings. Moreover, these cases are not confined to large-scale failures or headline events; serious injuries may also occur during routine work activities, equipment operation, or ordinary job-site tasks.

Pre-suit settlement for the full amount of the available insurance proceeds for a landscaper who was run over by an SUV in the driveway of the home he was working at. The home owner apparently did not see the worker as he rode on a lawnmower, struck him, and ran over his leg with the car. The worker sustained severe crush injuries to his leg requiring multiple surgeries and was permanently disabled from manual labor. SUGARMAN was also able to obtain a favorable reduction in the claimed workers’ compensation lien.

Settlement against crane maintenance and repair companies just days before trial in Middlesex Superior Court for worker who fractured most of the left side of his body after receiving a shock from an overhead crane and falling approximately 25 feet to the ground below. The worker was in the process of repairing a railing when he engaged the remote control for an overhead crane he was using to hold the railing in place. He immediately felt a strong electric shock, lost his balance and struck the mid-section of the railing, which broke. He then fell approximately 25 feet to the ground and was emergently taken to a Boston hospital. Through discovery and depositions, SUGARMAN’s attorneys were able to learn that several of the plaintiff’s co-workers had previously received smaller electrical shocks and, in the weeks before the plaintiff’s fall, had reported them to one of the defendants who supposedly investigated, found nothing, and told the co-employees that it was safe to continue using the crane. After a failed mediation and vigorous pre-trial motion practice, the plaintiff settled against one of the defendants. The case then was fully settled several days before trial after the video trial deposition of the plaintiff’s medical expert.

Pre-trial settlement for union ironworker foreman who suffered debilitating back injuries when the construction elevator he was riding in came to a slamming stop when an elevator mechanic attempted to override the elevator’s electronic safety system without realizing that the elevator was in operation. The foreman was working at the Lowell Justice Center construction project at the time and was rendered totally disabled as a result of his injuries.

Soon after initiation of a lawsuit bringing negligence claims under general maritime law as well as the Jones Act, SUGARMAN attorneys were able to settle the claim of a long-time marine vessel steward who suffered a severe patellar fracture requiring surgical repair followed by a total knee replacement. The steward had slipped on untreated ice on the deck of a vessel after arriving at work early in the morning.

Two railroad workers were severely injured while working in a tunnel when they were struck by a moving MBTA train as a result of improper monitoring of their work.