$101 Million Settlement for Workers Killed and Injured in Tropicana Casino Garage Collapse
Won by D'Amato Law Office, Linwood, NJ (co-lead counsel), Saltz Mongeluzzi & Bendesky (co-lead counsel), Maggiano DiGirolamo & Lizzi (trial counsel) and 2 other firms.
Four construction workers were killed and more than 30 injured when five floors of a parking garage under construction at the Tropicana Casino Resort in Atlantic City collapsed in October 2003, leading to what attorneys described as the largest construction-accident settlement in U.S. history at that time.
What happened
On the morning of October 30, 2003, the top five levels of a 2,400-space parking garage being built as part of a $265 million expansion at the Tropicana Casino Resort in Atlantic City pancaked to the ground while workers were pouring concrete on the top deck. Four men died in the collapse: ironworkers Michael Wittland, 53, and James Bigelow, 29, and concrete workers Robert Tartaglio Jr., 42, and Scott Pietrosante, 21. More than 30 others were injured, including Edward Wittland, Michael's son, who suffered a broken neck.
Federal OSHA investigators concluded the failure resulted from flaws in design, execution, and oversight. Critical steel connections between the garage decks and the outer walls had never been installed, and the bracing used while the concrete cured was inadequate to hold the structure together.
Robert Mongeluzzi of Saltz Mongeluzzi Barrett and Bendesky and Paul D'Amato of the D'Amato Law Office in Linwood, New Jersey, were co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs. The lead trial team was Mongeluzzi, D'Amato, Larry Bendesky and Michael Maggiano of Fort Lee, with V. Paul Bucci II, Ernest Alvino Jr. and Jeffrey Fritz also on the trial team. Steven Johnson of D'Arcy Johnson Day represented another plaintiff. The defendants numbered 16 in total, including the Tropicana Casino Resort, parent company Aztar Corp., general contractor Keating Building Corp., concrete subcontractor Fabi Construction, structural engineering firm DeSimone Consulting Engineers, and Site-Blauvelt Engineers. The plaintiffs argued that multiple parties shared responsibility for a project where, in Mongeluzzi's words, 'the floors were not connected to the walls with the required reinforcing steel.'
With a jury trial scheduled for June 2007, the parties reached a settlement in April of that year. The total package came to approximately $101 million: roughly $82.5 million in cash, $2 million from prior individual settlements, $8.2 million in workers compensation liens waived by carriers, and $8.3 million set aside for future medical expenses. Judge William E. Nugent presided over the Atlantic County Superior Court proceedings, with Judge Stephen P. Perskie serving as settlement judge.
At the time of the announcement, Mongeluzzi and Bendesky stated the result was believed to be the largest settlement ever reached in a U.S. construction accident case. The $101 million figure covered 36 plaintiffs, distributing compensation among the families of those killed and the dozens of workers who survived with serious injuries.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.D'Arcy Johnson Day (firm release, Apr. 12, 2007): Steven K. Johnson reports the settlement for his client
- 2.Philadelphia Inquirer: Tropicana victims to get $101 million (Apr. 12, 2007)·Archived copy
- 3.Insurance Journal (AP): N.J. Casino Settles Deadly Garage Collapse for $101 Million (Apr. 11, 2007)·Archived copy
- 4.ABA Journal: $101 million settlement approved in casino collapse case (Apr 12, 2007)·Archived copy
- 5.Hotel News Resource: $101 Million Settlement in Deadly 2003 Tropicana Parking Garage Collapse That Killed Five Workers (Apr. 11, 2007; Saltz Mongeluzzi release)·Archived copy
- 6.Philadelphia Inquirer: 'Collapse's survivors say award no comfort' (Apr 13, 2007): victim profiles and injury details·Archived copy
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