Construction Accidents
PERSONAL INJURY – CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS
Construction sites are inherently dangerous. Workers toil under tight time constraints, performing physically demanding tasks on often uneven, unstable surfaces, all while being surrounded by heavy machinery. The risk of injury increases exponentially when workers must climb up and down scaffolding and ladders, or maneuver around cranes and other vertical lifting equipment.
General contractors are required by law to provide adequate safety training and equipment but often fail to do so, which, unfortunately, leads to serious — sometimes life-threatening — injuries, many with devastating consequences. Injured workers are immediately confronted with the realities of lost wages, steep medical bills, unimaginable pain, and the emotional effects of an accident, but many soon realize that the long-term effects may be even more catastrophic when their injuries prevent them from finding future employment and persistent pain keeps them under costly medical care.
Expert legal representation is critical in construction accident cases. Even workers whose injuries are “covered” by worker’s compensation insurance may soon find that the coverage provides inadequate reimbursement of medical expenses and only short-term replacement of lost income. In worker’s compensation cases in particular, it is of paramount importance that victims retain an experienced lawyer who is well-versed in labor law and who can investigate all possible ways of acquiring adequate compensation.
New York City and State laws provide extensive protection to construction accident victims, often favoring the injured worker over the general contractor or site owner. Undocumented workers are offered the same protections in court as U.S. citizens — your right to justice is not dependent on where you were born.
Our expertise includes, but is not limited to, construction accidents involving:
- Elevation-related falls from ladders and scaffolding
- Injuries stemming from the hoisting of materials
- Injuries related to the use of cranes and other vertical lifts
- Failure to provide proper safety equipment
- Failure to provide a safe work environment
If a family member has died or if you or a family member has been injured as a result of a construction accident, call 212-539-1800 today for a free, no-obligation consultation.
Verdicts & Settlements
$15,000,000 SettlementConstruction AccidentConstruction worker paralyzed
Mr. Sitinas recently obtained the 8th largest mediated settlement in Federal Court and in the top 20 of all NY State Courts and the single largest non-medical malpractice settlement in the State of New York for 2015 on behalf of a 26 year old laborer who was severely injured when a bucket containing construction debris fell six-stories and struck our client. Miraculously, the construction worker survived. Tragically, he will never walk again as he is paralyzed from the navel down.
This story begins in Tribeca, where the owners of a six-story condominium hired a construction company to replace their roof. The construction company hired an Engineering Company to design a two-bay scaffold system, which was to be erected between this building and a neighboring building. One of the scaffold bays contained a staircase that connected the ground level to the roof. The adjacent bay was to be enclosed with mesh and include a chute, where debris would be thrown down and removed from the worksite. For larger items, a material hoist was supposed to have been mounted to an iron beam on the building’s roof. This material hoist was to have a 1200 lb lifting capacity.
On the first day of the project, as the old concrete roof was being ripped up, the construction company foreman realized that the material hoist was not functioning. Rather than seeking a new hoist or even renting such a hoist (which are readily available) the foreman for the construction company hastily decided that they would use a rope pulley system to lower buckets of construction debris down six stories. Of course, unlike a material hoist, there was nothing preventing a full bucket of materials from free-falling and crashing to the ground if anyone let go of the rope. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened.
Our client, a 26 year-old man with absolutely no experience in the construction trade, was hired by this contractor to work as a Laborer at this jobsite. Upon arriving at the jobsite for his very first day of work, he received absolutely no training, no direction or supervision – in fact, he was not even provided with a hard hat or even work gloves. He was simply told that he and two other Laborers would be pulling a rope that would raise an empty bucket to the roof. Once there, the bucket would be filled with debris and then the three Laborers (who, in reality, were just three friends from Newark, NJ with no construction experience whatsoever) would slowly release the rope and allow the filled bucket to make its way down to the ground level. Once there, our client’s job was to empty the debris into small dumpsters with wheels and push those dumpsters to the sidewalk for removal by a carting company. Thereafter, these Laborers would pull the rope and hoist the empty bucket back up to the roof so the process could be repeated.
At one point, the foreman directed that there was no need for all three Laborers to do this work and that one of them should go up on the roof to help tear up the old materials. With just two Laborers on the ground level, this process became extremely more dangerous that it already was. Now, instead of three men holding the rope, there were only two.
Shortly thereafter, an extremely heavy bucket was released from the roof. Only one Laborer was holding the rope on the ground level and the bucket was simply too heavy for him. The rope either slipped out of his hands or was intentionally released, causing this heavy bucket of construction debris to free-fall from the roof.
Tragically, our 26 year old client was directly under this free-falling bucket and the results were catastrophic. The bucket hit our client, grazing his head but shattering his spine and breaking his arm.
Miraculously, our client survived this horrific accident, but at great expense. He would spend the next two-and-one-half months in the hospital and at an in-patient rehabilitation center. He was informed that not only was he paralyzed from the navel down, but that he would likely never walk again. He would require multiple surgeries to both stabilize his spine and to repair his broken right arm. More significantly, he would have to learn to care for himself while being confined to a wheel chair for the rest of his life. He had to come to terms with the fact that his life as he knew it, was essentially over. For the rest of his life, he will need medical care and be dependent on home health aides and others to care for him.
Mr. Sitinas filed suit against the Condominium and their managing agent. He also filed suit against the Engineering Company that designed the scaffold, but after realizing they were not liable for anything which may have caused this accident, he discontinued against them. The Condominium, in turn, sued the construction company – something the plaintiff could not do, as they were his employer and the Worker’s Compensation laws bar personal injury suits by employees against their employers.
After the completion of all depositions and the exchange of expert witness reports, the parties agreed to mediate this case. The parties agreed to employ the services of retired Justice Allen Hurkin-Torres, one of the most respected mediators in New York.
After nearly six hours of intense negotiations, Mr. Sitinas was not only able to secure a significant $15,000,000 settlement for his client but he also convinced the defendants to waive a Worker’s Compensation lien of approximately $390,000. If not waived, the client would have been responsible to pay back a significant portion of this $390,000 lien out of his own proceeds from the settlement. Most impressive of all, this substantial settlement was achieved in roughly one and one-half years; less, than half the average time for such cases.
Mr. Sitinas expertise in handling complex construction accident cases benefitted his client in a way that will financially protect the client for the rest of his life while obtaining fair and reasonable compensation for these life-altering injuries.
$3,000,000 SettlementConstruction AccidentConstruction worker injured his lower back
Our office was retained by a 43-year-old construction worker who injured his lower back when he was forced to hoist heavy metal bars up the side of a 6-story building using nothing but rope and his hands. The building was being erected in Brooklyn and had several winch-hoists, however, when our client asked to use one of them for this task he was told they were all being used elsewhere at the job site. He was told he could either do as told or leave the project.
Our client, a member of Carpenter’s Union Local 1536 spent the remainder of that day hoisting the heavy metallic frames with brute strength alone. By the end of the day, he was in significant pain and unable to return to work ever again. He sustained injuries to his Lumbar Spine, necessitating a decompressive lumbar laminectomy with fusion surgery. He also underwent extensive pain management treatment, including steroid injections into his L4-5 disc space. He also underwent nerve root ablation, which involves burning the nerve root endings to deaden the pain.
The defendants agreed to mediate the matter, however, they tried to low-ball the case by offering only $750.000.00. We walked out and prepared for trial. Shortly before jury selection was to commence, the defendants asked that we return to mediation once again. This time, the defendants came with substantially more money and the matter settled for $3,000,000.00. This is one more example of our firm never settling for less than fair value.
$2,235,000 SettlementConstruction AccidentConstruction worker run over by truck
Stavros Sitinas obtained a $2,235,000 settlement in favor of a 61 year-old construction worker who was injured at a job site at the Whitestone Bridge. The client, a land-surveyor, was run over by a truck that had just delivered building materials to a staging area under the bridge.
The plaintiff was kneeling down while setting up his surveying equipment when the truck pulled out of the staging area. Ordinarily, there would be spotters guiding the truck out of this loading area, however, because of record-low temperatures that day, the plaintiff believes that the spotters chose the warm cabin of the truck over standing outside to guide the driver.
The driver made several allegations in an attempt to blame the injured plaintiff for this accident, rather than accept the blame himself. First, he claimed that plaintiff failed to set up any barricades between himself and the traffic areas where trucks and other vehicles would pass. This was completely contradicted by plaintiff’s own testimony and by photographs of the scene which showed construction barrels near the plaintiff. The driver also claimed that our client was at fault for not having another person nearby to warn him of oncoming traffic. This was clearly preposterous as the driver’s own laborers would have seen the plaintiff had they simply been outside the truck guiding the vehicle rather than inside the truck keeping warm.
Moreover, the laborers each admitted to seeing the plaintiff both when entering the staging area and when pulling out of the area. They assumed the driver saw him too, but clearly he did not. As a result, the front right side of the truck’s bumper knocked the plaintiff over while the front tire of the truck ran over the plaintiff’s left leg.
The plaintiff suffered a fractured fibula and tibula of his leg. He was confined to the hospital for (8) days where intramedullary rodding and nailing surgery was performed. He was then transferred to an in-patient rehabilitation facility.
He continued to have pain in his knee as well as his ankle. He eventually underwent arthroscopic knee surgery and when that procedure failed to bring him enough relief, he ultimately had a total knee replacement.
The defendants argued that the need for a total knee replacement was due more so to pre-existing arthritis rather than the trauma to his leg. Plaintiff’s doctors very effectively disputed this by showing that plaintiff’s no-affected knee had very little arthritis and one would expect that both knees would be equally arthritic.
As a result of these injuries, the plaintiff was unable to return to work. He was found totally disabled by the Social Security Administration and plaintiff’s expert economist projected that plaintiff incurred economic damages totaling $958,000 between lost wages and benefits.
Ultimately, the defendants suggested that the parties attend a mediation in an effort to settle the matter. Plaintiff agreed to attend the meditation but he and Mr. Sitinas walked out when it became very clear that the defendants were not serious about settling this matter for a reasonable sum. Remarkably, this case would go back to mediation (2) more times before Mr. Sitinas and his client were satisfied with the final settlement offer of $2,235,000.
Equally impressive is the fact that Mr. Sitinas was able to secure this settlement in approximately two and one-half years after the accident – when the typical time for such cases often exceeds four (4) years. This was simply the result of tenacious lawyering that resulted in a fair and just settlement.
Awards & Honors
