Illegal Aliens Entitled to Their Lost Wages

SCAFFOLD FALL

The Appellate Division Second Department decided a case on November 12, 2008 has determined that a laborer from Ecuador, who was in the United States without permission, was entitled to recover lost wages as a result of his injuries from a fall at a construction site. The worker fell from a makeshift scaffolding at a townhouse construction site after he was hired by one of the construction site companies to perform work. As a result of the fall of approximately 25 feet, the worker was left paralyzed. In December 2006, a jury awarded the worker $3.3 million, which included the very low amount of $102,000 for lost wages. The Court ruled that because the worker's employer violated The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 by not verifying the worker's identification documents, the worker was able to submit a claim for his actual lost wages to the jury. The Court then ordered a new trial unless defendants agreed to pay $6.8 million. http://www.foleygriffin.com/

NYC Construction Accident - Recent Settlement

Five companies that were involved in the demolition of a Queens bottling plant have agreed to pay a total of $16 million to a worker who suffered severe brain damage in a fall at the plant. The injured worker fell off of an 18-foot-high scaffold while working on the building. As the scaffold was not tall enough to reach the ceiling, the worker stood on a crate that was placed on the scaffold's top level. The claim was that this configuration was a violation of the New York State Labor Law. www.foleygriffin.com

Recent Jury Award

A jury awarded more than $13 million to a construction foreman who was injured when a job site's temporary bridge collapsed and dumped him onto a sidewalk eight feet below. After a judge ruled that the site's owners and the project's general contractors were liable via the broad applicability of the labor law, the jury found that the bridge's manufacturer was negligent in its construction of the bridge and that the site's engineer and the foreman's employer were negligent in their failure to inspect the bridge. The foreman, Paul Barraco, claimed that he sustained a back injury and fractures of both heels. He contended that he cannot resume work. Barraco was awarded $13,362,904, and his wife was awarded $637,096 for her residual loss. www.foleygriffin.com