Tenacious Attorney Investigation Results in $375,000

Settlement of New Jersey Construction Injury Case
 

On August 13, 2005 plaintiff Braulio was working for a trim carpentry sub-contractor on a large residential construction project in Ocean County, New Jersey. The general contractor was defendant Kara Homes. Kara in turn hired defendant Michael J. Wright Construction Company as a sub-contractor for installing interior stairs in the houses and temporary safety guardrails on the stairs. The injured worker's employer, Home Remodeling Concepts, was hired to install trim and baseboard molding in the houses.

At the time of the construction accident Braulio was on the second floor moving long pieces of wood trim from the hallway into another room on the second floor. Due to the tight space, the laborer was having difficulty maneuvering the wood into the room. As he walked he fell from the unguarded balcony of the second floor onto the first floor. He landed in a standing position fracturing his left heel severely.

New Jersey trial lawyers for the injured worker maintained that as the general contractor on the project, Kara Homes had a duty to oversee safety and enforce the federal workplace safety regulations known as OSHA. The OSHA regulations, as well as Kara Homes' safety manual, require workers to be protected against a fall while working at an unprotected edge or edge six feet or more above a lower level by having a guardrail system in place along open-sided walking surfaces. New Jersey injury lawyers also showed that the Michael J. Wright Construction Company failed to either install the guards in the first place or replace them after they were removed by another contractor. Under their contract with Kara Homes, they had the responsibility to see to it the guardrails were installed.

Lawyers hired by the insurance companies for the defendants alleged that the worksite was safe or that they had no notice of any dangerous condition. They also said that plaintiff was at fault for the accident (even though OSHA enforcement and installation of the safety guards was not his responsibility). Plaintiff's trial lawyers countered that Kara Homes job sites had a chronic problem of safety violations, including unguarded second floor balconies. Through aggressive discovery the tenacious attorneys for the injured worker uncovered a number of case documents proving this, including a January 2005 Kara Homes memo to all subcontractors that stated:

Please be advised that we have been notified by Applegate Associates that we are not in compliance with OSHA regulations on most of our jobs. The violations are to numerous to mention.

The Michael J. Wright Construction Company foreman repeatedly testified throughout his deposition that he was frustrated with the chronic guardrail situation of other contractors taking the safety guardrails down without putting them back up. Plaintiff maintained that Kara Homes and Michael J. Wright Construction Company were fully aware of this problem but neither did anything to fix it. You can take a look at just some of the many critical accident case documents the experienced NJ injury lawyers uncovered through their investigation, including the OSHA inspection reports and the infamous "slinky poster" Kara Homes had posted in its safety administration trailer.

Braulio sustained a comminuted fracture involving the left calcaneus. A splint was applied, he was given crutches. He underwent orthopedic treatment and physical therapy. Although he was recommended to undergo surgery for the calcaneus fracture, that had not yet taken place but is expected to in the future. He has not been able to return to work in the construction field since this serious accident. He still experiences pain in his foot, especially in the cold winter weather and will require extensive treatment into the future as a result of his personal injuries from this accident.

The insurance companies waited until the last minute to settle the case. The personal injury case settled for $375,000 during pre-trial proceedings before a Middlesex County New Jersey Superior Court judge. Mr. Braulio was represented by John E, Keefe, Jr., Esq. and Gerald H. Clark, Esq.

For more information or to speak with an experienced New Jersey construction injury settlement attorney, contact Keefe Bartels & Clark LLC.

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