Nancy Winkler and Todd Schoenhaus recently secured a confidential, nearly $10 million settlement in a construction accident lawsuit on behalf of their client, a 33-year-old drywall worker, against a general contractor and two subcontractors.
Their client fell from the second story of a newly constructed home while attempting to carry a large piece of sheetrock across an unguarded opening. When he fell, he struck his head on the ground and suffered skull and facial fractures, hematomas, and other catastrophic injuries, leaving him permanently disabled with a traumatic brain injury. Unable to work and care for his minor children, which was among many points of contention in the lawsuit, Nancy and Todd also successfully pursued his wife’s loss of consortium claim.
In settling this lawsuit after extensive litigation during which both liability and damages were hotly contested, Nancy and Todd were able to defeat the defendants’ arguments that they enjoyed workers’ compensation immunity under the Pennsylvania statutory employer defense, and supported their client’s claims with a well-credentialed Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) expert.
In addition to a general lack of jobsite supervision, training, and safety protocols, Nancy and Todd specifically established that the defendants should have provided the drywall crew with proper scaffolding and fall protection.
“With negligent if not reckless mismanagement permeating the jobsite from top to bottom, it is little wonder our client was catastrophically injured when he had to complete the high-wire act of walking two narrow planks while carrying a 16-foot piece of sheetrock,” said Todd. “Given the stunning lack of oversight, the woeful use of equipment, and the utter lack of training and safety programs on this jobsite, it is a miracle no other workers were catastrophically injured or killed.”
“Our client’s promising life as a happy and healthy married father was forever altered through the defendants’ negligence and recklessness,” said Nancy. “This settlement cannot undo the severe and permanent physical and mental injuries our client has suffered, but it will help him obtain necessary lifelong medical care and financially provide for his young family.”
