$9,000,000 Settlement for Construction Worker Who Sustained Serious Injuries After a Mast Climber Accident

Partners Stephen J. Murphy and David L. Scher spent years investigating the case and fighting to establish liability.

Court and County

Supreme Court, Bronx County

Unsafe Machine Operation Leads to Serious Injury

Our client, a 51-year-old construction worker, had been hired to patch holes in the facade of a Manhattan apartment building. To do this, he and his coworker needed to be lifted to the 11^th floor exterior using a mast climber device.  When installed correctly, a mast climber – a type of powered platform attached to a vertical mast – can hold heavier loads than traditional scaffolding and allows workers to more easily lift construction materials.

The mast platform was positioned near the second floor of the building when our client boarded. As he was securing his safety harness, the platform began moving upward with no warning from the operator. This caused our client to lose his balance and fall with his right hand outstretched – directly into the point where the mast and platform met. The platform continued to move, pinching our client’s hand and nearly severing multiple fingers.

Our client fainted in shock, resulting in him falling backward onto the platform and sustaining additional injuries to his neck and spine. He woke up in the hospital with his hand in a tourniquet, where he learned his middle, ring, and pinky finger were badly fractured and nearly amputated. Later MRIs also revealed that the fall caused cervical and lumbar spine disc herniations, which caused chronic pain in his neck and back.

Our client spent a week in the hospital and required a total of five surgeries, including an open reduction internal fixation of his hand, hardware removal in his fingers, and cervical spine fusion. Doctors ultimately had to complete the ring and pinky finger amputations, and despite managing to save the middle finger, it was left with extremely limited strength and mobility that makes use of the finger almost impossible. As a result, using his right hand – his dominant hand – is incredibly difficult, and our client struggles to hold a pen, brush his teeth, and perform other daily tasks.

Challenges Establishing Liability in a Construction Accident Case

It took rigorous investigation from Partners Stephen J. Murphy and David L. Scher to firmly establish liability against the mast climber operator and company. Initial accounts of the accident stated that the operator was a coworker of our client, which would have prevented a lawsuit from moving forward – workers’ compensation laws in New York prevent employees from suing their employers.

While attempting to verify the employer of the operator, Murphy and Scher also began examining the mast climber itself. They learned that mast climbers, when installed correctly, should have a fence between the mast and the moving platform to prevent anything from falling into the joint. At the time of our client’s accident, however, no such fence was in place.

Our attorneys then investigated the amount of training our client had received before using the mast climber. As with all pieces of machinery, workers should complete safety training before getting on or operating a mast climber for the first time. Our client, who had never used this type of equipment before, did not receive this training.

Despite uncovering some strong evidence of negligence, it was still unclear who was responsible for the accident. Though the operator was clearly at fault for failing to control the mast climber safely, identifying the operator — and therefore his employer — proved extremely difficult. No one from the construction site knew who the operator was, and all documents our attorneys received from the property owner and general contractor lacked information about the mast climber and those in charge of its operation.

But Murphy and Scher refused to give up – and this dedication would ultimately pay off.

Breakthrough Evidence Leads to Settlement

A few years into the case, our attorneys found what they had been looking for – proof that the operator was not an employee of our client’s company. They obtained a post-accident investigation report produced by the mast climber company, which confirmed they employed the mast operator. Finally, it was clear that the mast climber company was vicariously liable for the accident and could be named in the lawsuit.

However, there was still work to be done. Murphy and Scher still had to contend with the defense, who claimed that because the climber was not yet fully installed, it would not have been possible to include a fence guard between the mast and the platform at the time. But our attorneys were ready for this argument – they had documents from the NYC Department of Buildings that showed the mast climber had been certified as fully installed just one day after the accident, indicating that the climber has been inspected and approved well before the accident had occurred.

Furthermore, they argued that the status of the mast climber was irrelevant to the facts of the case. The mast climber operator should never have moved the platform while our client was still securing his harness, and in fact should have been more careful if no fence was in place.

These arguments, built on years of collected evidence, allowed our attorneys to resolve the case. The defense agreed to settle for $9,000,000 shortly after the mast climber company was named in the case. After our client struggled through so much pain, the settlement helped revive his hope for the future and gave him the tools he needed to move forward from the accident.

Settlement Amount

This case was settled for $9,000,000.

Handling Attorneys

This case was handled by Partners Stephen J. Murphy and David L. Scher.