05/21/2019
$3.785 Million award to Family of Man killed in Construction Case
Meyers & Flowers Partners Jonathan Mincieli and Craig Brown recently finalized a Cook County wrongful death settlement for a family of a man who was crushed to death by a cement wall he had just finished cutting.
In December of 2015, John’s employer was hired to cut a cement wall at an industrial plant in Chicago, Illinois. When John finished cutting a double doorway out of a large cement wall, the 4,000-pound slab unexpectedly fell on him, crushing him to death.
Mr. Mincieli and Mr. Brown filed suit against the General Contractor at the plant and three other subcontractors. All four were allegedly negligent in their safety responsibilities at the site because these defendants failed to require that the wall was braced before John finished cutting it.
The defendants denied responsibility and claimed John was the sole cause of his death because he failed to use the braces he had in his truck to prevent the wall from falling.
“There was definitely a legitimate dispute regarding whose responsibility it was to brace the wall, but contracts and OSHA regulations certainly required the defendants to perform an engineering survey and a Job Hazard Analysis before John should have been allowed to make the very first cut. Had they done so, they would have realized bracing was required, and they would have prevented John from starting the job until the proper bracing was utilized” said Mr. Mincieli.
The four defendants and the workers’ compensation carrier agreed to pay John’s family a total settlement of $3.785 Million on the eve of trial.
“Now that a settlement has been reached, we are working with John’s wife to help protect her family’s financial future by making sure her children can securely attend college and transition to adulthood,” said Mr. Brown.
At Meyers & Flowers, compassion and vigorous advocacy are the cornerstones of our representation of families who have been forced to deal with unnecessary tragedy. Contact us if we can be of help, we can be reached online or at 877-221-2511 to request a case evaluation.