$1.75 Million Recovery After Coworker's Cable Pull Tipped Electrician's Ladder
A 46-year-old electrician fell from a ladder when his coworker, pulling cable from another ladder fifteen feet away, yanked the cable around the base of his ladder. The Orlow Firm pursued the property owner, property manager, and general contractor under New York's scaffold law. The defense's case rested on the supervisor's testimony, but he had told one story at his deposition and a different story to his insurance company. When pressed about the contradiction, he denied giving the insurance statement at all. The Orlow Firm produced the recording, exposed the credibility problem, and turned the defense's $750,000 offer into a $1.75 million recovery, more than double.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
What Happened
Our client was a 46-year-old electrician at a Staten Island construction site. He had been placed at the job through a staffing agency, and from the start he had concerns about the safety conditions. He asked for a harness and was told none were available. He wrote to the staffing agency before the accident asking to be transferred to a different site. The agency confirmed receiving the request but had nowhere to send him.
On the day of the accident, our client was running cable along ceiling joists in tandem with his supervisor. They worked from two ladders about fifteen feet apart, the supervisor feeding the wire while our client pulled it through. They had completed the process at two locations and moved to a third when the wire became stuck. The supervisor told our client he was going to pull it back to free it. Our client then heard a noise below him, looked down, and saw the wire had wrapped around the base of his ladder. Before he could call out to stop, the supervisor pulled again, and the ladder was yanked out from under him.
How We Won
The defense turned to the supervisor to tell their version of the story. He said our client had been working alone on a different ladder. He said he had not been pulling any wire that connected to our client's ladder. He said our client had been on the top step of an eight-foot ladder when he fell.
Adam Moses Orlow, our Managing Partner, took the supervisor's testimony apart on basic credibility. The supervisor said our client was on the top step of an 8-foot ladder under a 13-foot ceiling, working on joists 11 feet up. Our client was 6'1". On the top step of an 8-foot ladder, his head would have been more than a foot above the ceiling decking. Physically impossible. The math made no sense. The supervisor also testified that there were no vertically hanging wires in the area at the time of the accident. The photographs taken by another worker immediately after the fall showed multiple vertically hanging wires.
Then the contradiction. When asked about the differences between his deposition testimony and a statement he had given to his insurance carrier, the supervisor denied making the insurance statement at all. We demanded the recording from the defendant and got it. The voice on the recording was his. By the time the deposition was over, the defense's only theory of the accident depended on testimony the firm could now contradict from a prior statement in the same witness's voice. Their insurer offered $750,000 to settle. We rejected the offer.
The Injuries
Our client landed on his right ankle hard enough to cause an open fracture. Surgeons performed an emergency open reduction internal fixation with a plate and eleven screws. He remained hospitalized for six days, then needed a home health aide for three months and used a wheelchair, crutches, and eventually a cane. Thirteen months after the first operation, he had a second surgery, a fusion of his right ankle.
The Result
The Orlow Firm recovered $1.75 million for our client, more than double what the defense thought would close the case.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a construction accident, contact The Orlow Firm at (646) 647-3398 for a free consultation.
