Jury Awards $1.565 Million to Ironworker Hurt in 10-Foot Ladder Fall at Piscataway Construction Site
After trial: We found no appeal or post-trial reduction, but could not confirm whether the judgment was paid.
Won by Ginarte Gonzalez & Winograd, LLP.
Marco Moreira, a 38-year-old ironworker, fell 10 feet when a ladder shifted at a partially built Piscataway site in December 2012, fracturing his left elbow and tearing his triceps, Achilles tendon and rotator cuff. The defendants argued weather records ruled out ice. An Essex County jury found the general contractor and property owner liable in August 2017 and awarded $1.565 million.
What happened
Marco Moreira, a 38-year-old ironworker, was working at a partially built construction site in Piscataway, New Jersey, on December 1, 2012. He was standing on a ladder set on a concrete floor when it shifted without warning. He fell about 10 feet and landed on his left side. Moreira worked for G&K Iron Works, not for the general contractor or the owner of the site.
The fall fractured his left elbow and tore his left triceps, his left Achilles tendon and the rotator cuff in his left shoulder. He had open reduction and internal fixation surgery on the elbow, arthroscopic shoulder surgery and a long course of physical therapy. His medical experts testified that he would have pain and limitations in his left arm and leg for the rest of his life.
Moreira sued JSM at Fairways LLC, the general contractor, and Edgewood Properties Inc., the property owner, in Essex County Superior Court. His claim was that the floor had ice on it and that the two companies broke federal OSHA rules requiring walking and working surfaces to be kept clear of snow and ice. The defendants disputed that. They put on forensic meteorology evidence that there had been no freezing temperatures or snow that day, which they argued made ice impossible. They also brought in Moreira's employer, G&K Iron Works LLC, as a third-party defendant.
Liability turned on whether jurors accepted Moreira's account of the ice over the weather data. The case went to trial before Judge Deborah M. Gross-Quatrone and lasted five days. Robert H. Baumgarten of Ginarte Gallardo Gonzalez & Winograd, LLP tried it for Moreira. Daniel S. Jahnsen Sr. of Bolan Jahnsen Dacey represented the defendants.
On August 4, 2017, the jury found JSM at Fairways and Edgewood Properties liable and awarded $1,565,000: $65,000 for past lost earning capacity and $1,500,000 for non-economic damages. Court costs and interest of $117,963.42 were added to the judgment. A search for an appeal under the party names and docket number ESX-L-008231-14 turned up none.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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