FReese v. doe construction
$899,000
This was a constuction accident. Mr. Freese was a roofer carrying two big buckets of hot tar down a flight of unfinished stairs in a house under construction. The stairs had no handrails and were "bouncy." He lost his balance, threw the buckets in front of him and fell into the 500 degree tar, suffering major 3rd degree burns. This case was complicated by the fact that Mr. Freese was wearing a t-shirt, shorts and tennis shoes, which were not appropriate for working with hot tar.
Even though the house and stairs were in a state of construction, we alleged the stairs were in a dangerous condition because of the following:
- The steps did not have risers installed and thus lacked vertical support, which made them bouncy.
- The steps were installed improperly because the grain of the plywood was installed parallell to the width of the steps, not perpendicular, which made the steps even more bouncy.
- There were no handrails.
We claimed that the bouncy steps caused the tar to splash on Mr. Freese's arm and made him lose his balance. He tossed the tar in front of him down the stairs, but there were no handrails to hold onto and he fell into the tar.
A key to the case was when we tracked down and hired the former employer of the worker who installed the faulty stairs. He testified that the stairs were installed incorrectly, and that this was not how his former employee was trained. The former employer became our star expert witness. In preparation for trial, we constructed a model of the defective stairs to show how bouncy they were.
This case settled the day before trial for $899,000 in cash. Note: $24,000 of his settlement was paid directly to his workers compensation insurer to reimburse them for benefits paid. Thus, Mr. Freese's settlement check was for $875,000.
