LABORER FALLS EIGHT FEET FROM A PILE OF STACKED CEMENT BAGS – $640,000 SETTLEMENT

New York Construction Fall Injury

WRS Partner, Kenneth J. Halperin recently obtained a $640,000 settlement for a laborer who was injured at a construction site. Prior to the happening of the accident our client, age 38, was working on a pile of stacked cement bags. He was approximately twelve (12) feet off the ground and was not provided with a safety harness. His job required him to climb to the top of the pile, pick up an 80 pound bag of cement and bring it back down to the ground to be placed into the mixer. While he was carrying the bag, one of the rows separated and he fell through the hole to the ground below.

Defendants argued that our client was told to use a forklift to assist with this process. We argued that none were readily available and that plaintiff and his co-workers typically had to climb to the top and bring the cement bags to the ground floor and that the defendants were aware of this.

As a result of the accident, our client sustained a torn meniscus in his right knee which required arthroscopic surgery. Several months after the accident he also developed pain in both shoulders which we were able to establish were injured in the accident. He underwent arthroscopic surgery to both shoulders for labral and rotator cuff tears. Plaintiff also sustained herniated discs in his cervical spine. Plaintiff had been in two accidents prior to this one where he also injured his back, neck and right shoulder, but we were able to establish that he recovered at the time this accident occurred.

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