$1.5M Construction Elevator Settlement

Our client, a union ironworker, and the foreman was involved in a construction project to add a 10-story academic building to Columbia University. He sustained serious injuries while riding on a temporary elevator operated by a third party and a co-defendant in this case. While the elevator employee was bringing our client and his co-workers down, the elevator jerked and dropped suddenly. The force of the jerking and dropping threw our client into the air. He landed hard on his back, neck, and left shoulder. The force of the impact required him to undergo surgery on his left shoulder and receive a cervical laminectomy.

The defendants, in this case, argued that our client should assume liability for his own injuries because he and his co-workers allowed a bolt to become lodged in the pulley mechanism of the elevator. Despite this, we argued successfully that the same elevator experienced the same malfunction previously and no one did anything about it. We secured a settlement amount of $1.5 million dollars for our injured client and his family at mediation.