This law is out-dated and serves no one except plaintiff attornies and their clients. It\’s no wonder only two states in the country have one. Workers Compensation was designed to prevent employees from suing employers everytime they were injured. If an employer was grossly negligent, that\’s another matter. I can tell you that having handled these claims for decades, it\’s rarely the case.
Contruction is dangerous work and the employee assumes that risk. Any worker with half a brain would inspect the equipment he is to used to insure it is safe. Ladders rarely \”collapse\” unless they were negligently positioned by an employee…….not the employer. This verdict is dis-proportional and outrageous. The attorney will make about $16.5 million for arguing. The plaintiff won\’t pay a nickel of tax either. Just because someone is injure in an ACCIDENT doesn\’t mean you make him a millionaire.
Amherst is a small town and not blesses with a population of high income residents. It is patently unfair to expose property owners to a tax assessment to enrich this planitiff and his attorney. This illustrates a major defect in our legal system……..a mechanism to apply common sense.
Dear Mr. Bill Read, This reply regards a comment you wrote on May 7th, 2007 ,New York State workers comp settlement for a construction worker falling off a later, Largest settlement paid upto 2007.
You were 100 % correct when you said the Taxpayer will be stuck with this 30.3.000.00 dollar settlement
paid to the injured worker , And you were 1000 % wrong when you said he should not have received so much.
January 2007 Travelers Insurance paid 6 state Attorney’s’ office 77,000,000.00 DOLLARS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS to stop a nationwide investigation of ( “ALLEGED” anti competitive Practices ) Taxpayers Nationwide paid that. They bought the Government CHEEP. Americans, Even the wealthiest most educated have no clue as to the INSURANCE WORLD, The oldest power on earth dating back 2000
years before Christ walked the earth.
I’ve been in battle with this WORLD POWER since 03/16/2007. 2010 they started playing rough and I almost died. I took them before the New York State Supreme court and won not once but 3 times and against all odds I WON – 3 OUT OF 3. This powerful industry knows now that like David and Goliath I maybe a true threat to their controlling way of life. OUR US CONGRESS is under their control .
With the invention of the world wide Web almost any literate person has access to knowledge of the corruption this group has been breeding since before Christ. I am still alive only due to the grace of my GOD. My health is now possible beyond repair and they hope ,not pray that this New World threat will
end me before their luck runs out . IF by a great miracle the light of day exposes their plain for power
it would surely cost a very high price and Trillions of dollars would only be a temporary setback to a power
that prospers worldwide, Just to name a few groups in this country they control ( social Security, Medicare , Medicaid , Health Care Industry, Automobile Industry, Congress and most of this nation’s Presidents dating back to George Washington just to shine the light on a few.
A real piece of true irony, The private insurance is currently worried this world threatening virus may cost
more then they wish to spend then This government can bail them out of.
Well, If this is read by anyone. I wish to thank you for your’ time, The most priceless valued investment
of Humankind . Sincerely, Kip A Heath 05/24/2020
If we assume he is either employed by the roofing company or a sub, there\’s no mention of Work Comp? If it\’s an EL claim, no mention why. If GL, why?
In this case, the obsolete NY Labor Law Section 240 allows for an injured person (as a result of a fall), to attempt to claim negligence against the property owner. And that is exactly what happened… the jobsite owner was successfully sued, and then the owner countersued the contractor that brought the worker to the site. I\’ve actually seen one where an independent, self-employed contractor fell off scaffolding, sued the commercial jobsite owner, who then sued the GC, who then countersued our self-employed contractor. The result? Yep, our contractor actually collected money on HIS OWN contractor\’s liability policy! I agree with Bill Reed…we desperately need legislative relief on this obscure law that is disgusting in how it rapes the innocent to feed an injured person and a fat-cat attorney.
Bill,
Are you kidding me?!?!?!? \”Amherst is a small town and not blesses with a population of high income residents.\” I\’m not sure which is higher in Amherst, the incomes or the noses of the snobs that live there! Not that this has anything to do with the article…
Using an annual salary of a roofer and working until he is 67 his loss of income is about 1,750,000. Assuming that they added the cost of making his home handicap friendly that would add in about another 85-100,000 plus extra medical costs NOT covered my medicare about a cool Mill. After all being disababled he will qualify for disability S.S. & medicare.
Maybe I just can\’t add or my calculator is on the fritz but it just doesn\’t add up.
Yes he was injured and is entitled to \”compensation\” not a superfund settlement.
Bill is 1000% right. Legilation needs to be changed. Too many lawyers getting rich on the pain of an injured person and the greed of a lowly paid person who is looking for the get rich quick retirement plan of a lawsuit.
Now maybe others will see how riduclous 240, 241 are. Those laws stae that if a worker fall from a height (and no where in the laws is the term \”from a height\”) there is absolute liability to the property owner. there was actually a case where a worker fell off an over-turned paint can, surd an won.
The fact that the property owner has no defense at all makes this a most riduclous law. No other states have these laws anymore, but then, I guess no othere states\’ legislatures are as controlled by lawyers as NY.
Do any of you know or care how this injury affects this man? His pain? His change in life? The loss of his life enjoyment? You are typical insurance company hacks. Ledts talk about how much money your friends at insurance companies make. Look at thosae profits.
Your prejudice shows. But what else would you expect from the insurance journals
So where\’s the liability? A ladder collapsed… it happens. Was the ladder manufacturer liable because it was poorly constructed? Was the town liable because the floor was not designed to provide sufficient friction to hold a ladder up? Maybe it\’s God\’s fault because he made the Earth round (not a good surface to stand a ladder on) and spinning. I\’m just tired of the whole, \”I got hurt, it\’s someone else\’s fault because I\’m flawless, and now I\’m going to sue everyone until someone ends up paying\”.
Liability doesn\’t matter here. The crazy NY law says that if it happened on your property, you\’re wrong. PERIOD, AMEN.
As a result, property owners get conrtactors to assume liability under contract, so everybody has to pay. In this case, the contractor (the injured employee\’s emploer) didn\’t have high enough limits of liability, so the municipality will have to pay. Since they are self-insured, the tax payers will have to pay.
To Mcheck57. Since this unfortunate worker was hurt so badly, would you like to pay his bills? How about his lost income? If not, why not? Just because you didn\’t cause his injuries shouldn\’t be cause for you not to pay. Hey, the town in this case didn\’t cause this guy\’s injuries either. That\’s why Workers Comp was invented. In every state except NY, Workers Comp is a \”sole remedy.\”
Until you\’re ready to pay for him, perhaps you ought to learn about what you\’re complaining about.
Which would you prefer; 30 mil. and paralyzed for life or no accident / no 30 mil. / normal life? I am willing to bet the guy would give up all the money if he could turn back time. So while it may be easy for us outsiders to say the amount of money \”awarded\” to him is ridiculous, put yourself in his shoes before condemning him.
Ulitmately the consunmer and the tax payers pay for this sort of thing. Juries need to recognize that these unreasonable judgements are going to come out of their pockets too. I think maybe 2 million is generous. My wife has cerebral palsy and works, doesn\’t collect any government funding, is discriminated against but still works hard for our family. I assume this guy can be a produtive dude too. It\’s too bad.
I\’m not saying this verdict AMOUNT was unreasonable. My point here is that the NY scaffold laws are unreasonable in that they say that property owners are liable when a worker falls from a height, and there is no defense on the part of the defendant.
In every other state, Workers Compensation is the sole remedy for this sort of thing. If the property owner (in other states than NY) were truly negligent, the injured worker could then sue, and if he could show some negligence on the part of the property owner, he would get something.
Mcheck, I think YOU don\’t get it. How would YOU like it if you were to be charged with a crime but were not allowed to present a defense? This is essentially what 240, 241 in NY do. I\’m not against injured workers collecting WC benefits, or even being able to sue when there is negligence. But 240, 241 say that liability on the part of the property owner is ABSOLUTE, which means, in essence, there is NO DEFENSE (except in cases of gross negligence on the part of the worker, like showing up for work drunk).
No one should deny injured workers their due benefits, but the question should be, who should pay? Mcheck, if you were in NY and you owned some property, you could be sued if any worker on your premises fell from \”a height\” (again, the law deosn\’t define that, so ANY height, even 1 foot, qualifies). And if you were sued, you would have no defense becuase liability, under 240, 241 is ABSOLUTE.
Here in NY, it\’s more a case of the trial lawyers wanting to keep these laws and controlling the state legislature (although our state legislators claim it is the unions who are keeping these laws on the books) than injured workers getting fairly compensated when they are injured.
Before you make noise, Mcheck, learn what you\’re talking about. Try reading 240, 241 and then you can squawk.
How does the man live on a max of $400 per week and support a family? Under the new law he gets 10 years max benefits. Then who would have paid for his needs of life? Not a huge profit making insurance company. You and I will.
NYBroker when Workers\’ Comp becomes a fairer system then talk to me. The system is no benefits to workers or their employers. It only benefits money hungrey, we don\’t give a s**t carriers like those you work for.
Get real and get fair…then call me names
McCheck: you are obviously a social mal-content and not a member of the industry. You must like us because you read insurance journals. Having investigated and handled scores of labor law claims over a career that spans 35 years I feel qualified and comfortable to say that 80-90% of them are groundless. You see workers being careless, drinking at lunch, refusing to wear safety harnesses, and failing to check-out their equipment. I\’ve seen them recover for injuries they sustained when they themselves positioned the ladder, stood on the very top contrary to posted instructions, then lost their balance and fell. I\’ve yet to see an honest claimant admit it was his own ineptitude, carelessness, or stupidity that caused his injury. Why not? Follow the money trail. They can\’t pay for their mistakes. They should get WC for their medicals and lost wages FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY. They should not profit from these types of incidents. Of course our badly flawed legal system, the trough that fees the plaintiff counsels, has convinced people they are ENTITLED to damages. Labor law created an incentive to get injured and receive a pension settlement. It\’s BAD LAW anyway you cut it.
Insurance companies are for profit entities. They are not charities to help the down trodden. There are specific contractual obligations in which an ins company will pay funds. Ask the Katrina folks. I know this guy is injured and it is a sad story, but that doesn\’t mean insurance should cover this.
Hey folks: isn\’t New York the state that can boast they have two of the finest jurists, Hillary and Chuck, representing them??!! The great state of New York: the ship of fools.
As you all are well aware claims like these cause insurance companies to reconsider their writing insurance in states and/or price the premium according to the exposure. With a law like 240 and 241, as NY agent/broker explained it makes me think you couldn\’t charge enough in NY for general liability or work comp. Maybe good old Hillary can make gl universal along with the health care and take care of both issue…right. Whatever happened to the personal responsibility of buying our own disability insurance and life insurance and planning accordingly should catastrophe strike? Looking at this matter from MN – former home to Gov. Jesse Ventura – I thought we were the crazy ones.
Look folks, these personal injury cases may make no sense to you, but their big business to those of us in the ambulance chasing…errr, Tort Law business. Sure disproportionate, compeletely out-of-wack verdicts like this one hurt everyone. True, there\’s no real \”liability\” here except for a little lack of common sense. But the really important thing here is the \”E\” word because it works like a charm for those of us in the Tort industry. E= emotion. Give me a poor crippled *******, even if he intentionally jumped off that roof onto a 10\’ pile of broken beer bottles and I\’ll have that jury sobbing over the nasty SOB\’s that made the beer…Ahhhhhhh America. The country built itself on personal gumption and responsibility where today you can knowingly buy a cup of red-hot coffee, dump into your own lap and become a millionaire….makes sense, don\’t it? It does to me.
Here is a factual case from our files, not just specualtion. Our insured was a GC who hired a sub-contractor (it just happened to have been his son\’s masonry contracting firm). The CG was hired to build a strip mall. The sub-contractor masonry firm had 2 summer employees, college students, who were intending to return to school at the end of the summer.
They were working with a scaffold, that they had to move. Instead of taking it apart, as they had been told to do, they thought that if they removed SOME parts, it would then be light enough for them to be able to drag it, rather than do it the long way. In the process, the scaffold collapsed on them while they were on short step ladders.
Both employees suffered mild injuries. In fact, one employee (the one who was \”hurt\” the worse of the two)who was hurt in early August, returned to college at the end of August and was seen playing intramural sports.
Both employeess sued the property owner, who in turn gave it to the CG because the contract had a hold harmless in favor of the property owner.
The CG\’s carrier paid because they said that there was no defense AT ALL, due to 240,241. The CG\’s company (no out of business, btw) paid large sums, practially paying off the college expenses for both student/employees.
The case in this article was somewhat similar in that the municipality had no defense. I wonder if Mcheck were a resident of the community in question and as a result of this would have to pay incerased real estate taxes to cover this, would he still be so generous.
Some of you are right, you shouldnt become rich from a accident, but if you think about a few million dollar settelment doesnt go very far, if you look at lost wages and medical bills,etc. a few million doesnt go far, I broke my back severly from a fall, from a ladder, and am about to have MAJOR surgery, now I dont know what my future hols for me, but I know that the job I loved, is now over with, now all the schooling and training I have spent the last 15 yrs of my life trainning for is all worthless, not to mention all the things I loved to do I’ll probably never no again, live golf, camping, hunting, it’s all gone, plus my kids, how do I look them in the eye and say dady cant play with you cause I am now crippled, so who is to blame, not me, and heck yes someone should pay !! we are the forefront of your buissness, we build them, and fix them , all these fancy offices you sit in,it was made by some poor (I wanna get Rich Quick) person, so think about us and our families!! we didnt ask to get hurt, but we did
This law is out-dated and serves no one except plaintiff attornies and their clients. It\’s no wonder only two states in the country have one. Workers Compensation was designed to prevent employees from suing employers everytime they were injured. If an employer was grossly negligent, that\’s another matter. I can tell you that having handled these claims for decades, it\’s rarely the case.
Contruction is dangerous work and the employee assumes that risk. Any worker with half a brain would inspect the equipment he is to used to insure it is safe. Ladders rarely \”collapse\” unless they were negligently positioned by an employee…….not the employer. This verdict is dis-proportional and outrageous. The attorney will make about $16.5 million for arguing. The plaintiff won\’t pay a nickel of tax either. Just because someone is injure in an ACCIDENT doesn\’t mean you make him a millionaire.
Amherst is a small town and not blesses with a population of high income residents. It is patently unfair to expose property owners to a tax assessment to enrich this planitiff and his attorney. This illustrates a major defect in our legal system……..a mechanism to apply common sense.
Dear Mr. Bill Read, This reply regards a comment you wrote on May 7th, 2007 ,New York State workers comp settlement for a construction worker falling off a later, Largest settlement paid upto 2007.
You were 100 % correct when you said the Taxpayer will be stuck with this 30.3.000.00 dollar settlement
paid to the injured worker , And you were 1000 % wrong when you said he should not have received so much.
January 2007 Travelers Insurance paid 6 state Attorney’s’ office 77,000,000.00 DOLLARS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS to stop a nationwide investigation of ( “ALLEGED” anti competitive Practices ) Taxpayers Nationwide paid that. They bought the Government CHEEP. Americans, Even the wealthiest most educated have no clue as to the INSURANCE WORLD, The oldest power on earth dating back 2000
years before Christ walked the earth.
I’ve been in battle with this WORLD POWER since 03/16/2007. 2010 they started playing rough and I almost died. I took them before the New York State Supreme court and won not once but 3 times and against all odds I WON – 3 OUT OF 3. This powerful industry knows now that like David and Goliath I maybe a true threat to their controlling way of life. OUR US CONGRESS is under their control .
With the invention of the world wide Web almost any literate person has access to knowledge of the corruption this group has been breeding since before Christ. I am still alive only due to the grace of my GOD. My health is now possible beyond repair and they hope ,not pray that this New World threat will
end me before their luck runs out . IF by a great miracle the light of day exposes their plain for power
it would surely cost a very high price and Trillions of dollars would only be a temporary setback to a power
that prospers worldwide, Just to name a few groups in this country they control ( social Security, Medicare , Medicaid , Health Care Industry, Automobile Industry, Congress and most of this nation’s Presidents dating back to George Washington just to shine the light on a few.
A real piece of true irony, The private insurance is currently worried this world threatening virus may cost
more then they wish to spend then This government can bail them out of.
Well, If this is read by anyone. I wish to thank you for your’ time, The most priceless valued investment
of Humankind . Sincerely, Kip A Heath 05/24/2020
If we assume he is either employed by the roofing company or a sub, there\’s no mention of Work Comp? If it\’s an EL claim, no mention why. If GL, why?
Does this story have holes in it?
In this case, the obsolete NY Labor Law Section 240 allows for an injured person (as a result of a fall), to attempt to claim negligence against the property owner. And that is exactly what happened… the jobsite owner was successfully sued, and then the owner countersued the contractor that brought the worker to the site. I\’ve actually seen one where an independent, self-employed contractor fell off scaffolding, sued the commercial jobsite owner, who then sued the GC, who then countersued our self-employed contractor. The result? Yep, our contractor actually collected money on HIS OWN contractor\’s liability policy! I agree with Bill Reed…we desperately need legislative relief on this obscure law that is disgusting in how it rapes the innocent to feed an injured person and a fat-cat attorney.
I feel sorry for the guy, but that is not the purpose of Work Comp.
I agree with you both. This is obscene. The attorneys will be encouraged by this judgement too, to continue to sue on what should be work comp claims.
Bill,
Are you kidding me?!?!?!? \”Amherst is a small town and not blesses with a population of high income residents.\” I\’m not sure which is higher in Amherst, the incomes or the noses of the snobs that live there! Not that this has anything to do with the article…
Using an annual salary of a roofer and working until he is 67 his loss of income is about 1,750,000. Assuming that they added the cost of making his home handicap friendly that would add in about another 85-100,000 plus extra medical costs NOT covered my medicare about a cool Mill. After all being disababled he will qualify for disability S.S. & medicare.
Maybe I just can\’t add or my calculator is on the fritz but it just doesn\’t add up.
Yes he was injured and is entitled to \”compensation\” not a superfund settlement.
Bill is 1000% right. Legilation needs to be changed. Too many lawyers getting rich on the pain of an injured person and the greed of a lowly paid person who is looking for the get rich quick retirement plan of a lawsuit.
Now maybe others will see how riduclous 240, 241 are. Those laws stae that if a worker fall from a height (and no where in the laws is the term \”from a height\”) there is absolute liability to the property owner. there was actually a case where a worker fell off an over-turned paint can, surd an won.
The fact that the property owner has no defense at all makes this a most riduclous law. No other states have these laws anymore, but then, I guess no othere states\’ legislatures are as controlled by lawyers as NY.
Do any of you know or care how this injury affects this man? His pain? His change in life? The loss of his life enjoyment? You are typical insurance company hacks. Ledts talk about how much money your friends at insurance companies make. Look at thosae profits.
Your prejudice shows. But what else would you expect from the insurance journals
So where\’s the liability? A ladder collapsed… it happens. Was the ladder manufacturer liable because it was poorly constructed? Was the town liable because the floor was not designed to provide sufficient friction to hold a ladder up? Maybe it\’s God\’s fault because he made the Earth round (not a good surface to stand a ladder on) and spinning. I\’m just tired of the whole, \”I got hurt, it\’s someone else\’s fault because I\’m flawless, and now I\’m going to sue everyone until someone ends up paying\”.
Liability doesn\’t matter here. The crazy NY law says that if it happened on your property, you\’re wrong. PERIOD, AMEN.
As a result, property owners get conrtactors to assume liability under contract, so everybody has to pay. In this case, the contractor (the injured employee\’s emploer) didn\’t have high enough limits of liability, so the municipality will have to pay. Since they are self-insured, the tax payers will have to pay.
To Mcheck57. Since this unfortunate worker was hurt so badly, would you like to pay his bills? How about his lost income? If not, why not? Just because you didn\’t cause his injuries shouldn\’t be cause for you not to pay. Hey, the town in this case didn\’t cause this guy\’s injuries either. That\’s why Workers Comp was invented. In every state except NY, Workers Comp is a \”sole remedy.\”
Until you\’re ready to pay for him, perhaps you ought to learn about what you\’re complaining about.
You do not get it and you never will. Collect premiums and do not pay. You must support the oil companies as well. What is insurance for?
Which would you prefer; 30 mil. and paralyzed for life or no accident / no 30 mil. / normal life? I am willing to bet the guy would give up all the money if he could turn back time. So while it may be easy for us outsiders to say the amount of money \”awarded\” to him is ridiculous, put yourself in his shoes before condemning him.
Ulitmately the consunmer and the tax payers pay for this sort of thing. Juries need to recognize that these unreasonable judgements are going to come out of their pockets too. I think maybe 2 million is generous. My wife has cerebral palsy and works, doesn\’t collect any government funding, is discriminated against but still works hard for our family. I assume this guy can be a produtive dude too. It\’s too bad.
I\’m not saying this verdict AMOUNT was unreasonable. My point here is that the NY scaffold laws are unreasonable in that they say that property owners are liable when a worker falls from a height, and there is no defense on the part of the defendant.
In every other state, Workers Compensation is the sole remedy for this sort of thing. If the property owner (in other states than NY) were truly negligent, the injured worker could then sue, and if he could show some negligence on the part of the property owner, he would get something.
Mcheck, I think YOU don\’t get it. How would YOU like it if you were to be charged with a crime but were not allowed to present a defense? This is essentially what 240, 241 in NY do. I\’m not against injured workers collecting WC benefits, or even being able to sue when there is negligence. But 240, 241 say that liability on the part of the property owner is ABSOLUTE, which means, in essence, there is NO DEFENSE (except in cases of gross negligence on the part of the worker, like showing up for work drunk).
No one should deny injured workers their due benefits, but the question should be, who should pay? Mcheck, if you were in NY and you owned some property, you could be sued if any worker on your premises fell from \”a height\” (again, the law deosn\’t define that, so ANY height, even 1 foot, qualifies). And if you were sued, you would have no defense becuase liability, under 240, 241 is ABSOLUTE.
Here in NY, it\’s more a case of the trial lawyers wanting to keep these laws and controlling the state legislature (although our state legislators claim it is the unions who are keeping these laws on the books) than injured workers getting fairly compensated when they are injured.
Before you make noise, Mcheck, learn what you\’re talking about. Try reading 240, 241 and then you can squawk.
How does the man live on a max of $400 per week and support a family? Under the new law he gets 10 years max benefits. Then who would have paid for his needs of life? Not a huge profit making insurance company. You and I will.
NYBroker when Workers\’ Comp becomes a fairer system then talk to me. The system is no benefits to workers or their employers. It only benefits money hungrey, we don\’t give a s**t carriers like those you work for.
Get real and get fair…then call me names
The CEO of State Farm made $11.6 million in 2006; AIG $21.3 million; Allstate $22.5 million; Aetna $32 million
need I go on.
mcheck57
You\’ve convinced me…
If I sue someone, I want you on the jury!!!!
My point was that you cannot determine what is fair UNTIL YOU KNOW THE WHOLE STORY. When you assume you make…………
McCheck: you are obviously a social mal-content and not a member of the industry. You must like us because you read insurance journals. Having investigated and handled scores of labor law claims over a career that spans 35 years I feel qualified and comfortable to say that 80-90% of them are groundless. You see workers being careless, drinking at lunch, refusing to wear safety harnesses, and failing to check-out their equipment. I\’ve seen them recover for injuries they sustained when they themselves positioned the ladder, stood on the very top contrary to posted instructions, then lost their balance and fell. I\’ve yet to see an honest claimant admit it was his own ineptitude, carelessness, or stupidity that caused his injury. Why not? Follow the money trail. They can\’t pay for their mistakes. They should get WC for their medicals and lost wages FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY. They should not profit from these types of incidents. Of course our badly flawed legal system, the trough that fees the plaintiff counsels, has convinced people they are ENTITLED to damages. Labor law created an incentive to get injured and receive a pension settlement. It\’s BAD LAW anyway you cut it.
Insurance companies are for profit entities. They are not charities to help the down trodden. There are specific contractual obligations in which an ins company will pay funds. Ask the Katrina folks. I know this guy is injured and it is a sad story, but that doesn\’t mean insurance should cover this.
Hey folks: isn\’t New York the state that can boast they have two of the finest jurists, Hillary and Chuck, representing them??!! The great state of New York: the ship of fools.
As you all are well aware claims like these cause insurance companies to reconsider their writing insurance in states and/or price the premium according to the exposure. With a law like 240 and 241, as NY agent/broker explained it makes me think you couldn\’t charge enough in NY for general liability or work comp. Maybe good old Hillary can make gl universal along with the health care and take care of both issue…right. Whatever happened to the personal responsibility of buying our own disability insurance and life insurance and planning accordingly should catastrophe strike? Looking at this matter from MN – former home to Gov. Jesse Ventura – I thought we were the crazy ones.
Look folks, these personal injury cases may make no sense to you, but their big business to those of us in the ambulance chasing…errr, Tort Law business. Sure disproportionate, compeletely out-of-wack verdicts like this one hurt everyone. True, there\’s no real \”liability\” here except for a little lack of common sense. But the really important thing here is the \”E\” word because it works like a charm for those of us in the Tort industry. E= emotion. Give me a poor crippled *******, even if he intentionally jumped off that roof onto a 10\’ pile of broken beer bottles and I\’ll have that jury sobbing over the nasty SOB\’s that made the beer…Ahhhhhhh America. The country built itself on personal gumption and responsibility where today you can knowingly buy a cup of red-hot coffee, dump into your own lap and become a millionaire….makes sense, don\’t it? It does to me.
Here is a factual case from our files, not just specualtion. Our insured was a GC who hired a sub-contractor (it just happened to have been his son\’s masonry contracting firm). The CG was hired to build a strip mall. The sub-contractor masonry firm had 2 summer employees, college students, who were intending to return to school at the end of the summer.
They were working with a scaffold, that they had to move. Instead of taking it apart, as they had been told to do, they thought that if they removed SOME parts, it would then be light enough for them to be able to drag it, rather than do it the long way. In the process, the scaffold collapsed on them while they were on short step ladders.
Both employees suffered mild injuries. In fact, one employee (the one who was \”hurt\” the worse of the two)who was hurt in early August, returned to college at the end of August and was seen playing intramural sports.
Both employeess sued the property owner, who in turn gave it to the CG because the contract had a hold harmless in favor of the property owner.
The CG\’s carrier paid because they said that there was no defense AT ALL, due to 240,241. The CG\’s company (no out of business, btw) paid large sums, practially paying off the college expenses for both student/employees.
The case in this article was somewhat similar in that the municipality had no defense. I wonder if Mcheck were a resident of the community in question and as a result of this would have to pay incerased real estate taxes to cover this, would he still be so generous.
Some of you are right, you shouldnt become rich from a accident, but if you think about a few million dollar settelment doesnt go very far, if you look at lost wages and medical bills,etc. a few million doesnt go far, I broke my back severly from a fall, from a ladder, and am about to have MAJOR surgery, now I dont know what my future hols for me, but I know that the job I loved, is now over with, now all the schooling and training I have spent the last 15 yrs of my life trainning for is all worthless, not to mention all the things I loved to do I’ll probably never no again, live golf, camping, hunting, it’s all gone, plus my kids, how do I look them in the eye and say dady cant play with you cause I am now crippled, so who is to blame, not me, and heck yes someone should pay !! we are the forefront of your buissness, we build them, and fix them , all these fancy offices you sit in,it was made by some poor (I wanna get Rich Quick) person, so think about us and our families!! we didnt ask to get hurt, but we did
visit http://www.nyscaffold.com