By: Russell Keener  —  October 10, 2011
 

Lawyers for the work­ers involved in a con­struc­tion site acci­dent that injured sev­eral work­ers and killed one have reached set­tle­ments total­ing more than $15 mil­lion accord­ing to Atlanta news reports.  The acci­dent hap­pened when an ele­vated plat­form at the Atlanta Botan­i­cal Gar­den com­plex col­lapsed, leav­ing con­struc­tion work­ers to fall as far as 40 feet to the ground.

The acci­dent occurred in Decem­ber of 2008 when scaf­fold­ing col­lapsed.  Angel Chupin, a 56-year-old worker, was killed in the col­lapse and 18 other work­ers were injured, some suf­fer­ing seri­ous spinal and brain injuries.  Work­ers and their fam­i­lies are glad the ordeal is finally behind them, and are sat­is­fied with the set­tle­ment which will help cover lost wages, med­ical expenses and other dam­ages they have suf­fered.  The announce­ment of the set­tle­ment that was reached was made on Octo­ber 4^th.

Law­suits were filed by 15 con­struc­tion work­ers and Chupin’s estate against Botan­i­cal Gar­den and sev­eral con­struc­tion com­pa­nies which include Shore All Corp., Williams Erec­tion Com­pany, Halvor­son & Part­ners, Atlas Piers of Atlanta, Steelfab Inc., and LBYD Inc.  The Canopy Walk at the gar­den opened in May of 2010.  The law­suits filed by the work­ers claimed that the com­pa­nies involved were neg­li­gent in that they did not prop­erly con­struct or anchor the tem­po­rary scaffolding.

The attor­ney for the plain­tiffs stated that Botan­i­cal Gar­den was cov­ered by their insur­ance, and that rep­utable con­trac­tors were hired.  How­ever, con­trac­tors and sub­con­trac­tors were left to ensure that the build­ing of the Canopy Walk bridge was built appropriately.

Chupin, the worker killed in the acci­dent, was sur­vived by 11 chil­dren and his widow, Euce­bia Lopez Car­ba­jal, who has returned to Mex­ico.  Sev­eral of Chupin’s chil­dren remain in Atlanta.

This is a tragic acci­dent that not only took the life of a worker, but left oth­ers with poten­tially life-altering injuries.  Con­struc­tion acci­dents are some of the most seri­ous and com­mon in the work­place today.

Many times job injuries involve third party actions. That means that in addi­tion to the work­ers’ com­pen­sa­tion claim, there can be other (non–work­ers’ com­pen­sa­tion) claims against other at-fault parties.

If you or a loved one have suf­fered injuries in a con­struc­tion acci­dent, con­tact the skilled Atlanta work­ers’ com­pen­sa­tion & con­struc­tion acci­dent attor­neys at Keener Law. Call today 770–955-3000 for a free consultation.