Worker slips, falls on ice: Failure to clear ice from floor of construction site: Herniated disk: Settlement

Law Reporter, Jun 2001

WORKPLACE SAFETY

Nuccio v. Lincoln Metrocenter Partners, N.Y., New York County Sup. Ct., No. 120499/94, Oct. 10, 2000.

Nuccio, 36, and a coworker were carrying a pipe threading machine from one floor to another at a construction project. The machine was attached to a pipe that rested on Nuccio's shoulder and on the shoulder of Nuccio's coworker, who was walking ahead of him. Nuccio slipped on a patch of ice near the building's vertical risers. He suffered a herniated disk at L5-S1, requiring surgery. His medical expenses totaled about $50,000. A steamfitter earning between $48,000 and $52,000 annually, he has not returned to work.

Nuccio and his wife sued the owner of the project; the construction manager; and the mechanical, concrete, and masonry subcontractors, alleging that defendants allowed ice to accumulate and remain on a floor where construction work was being performed. Nuccio's wife claimed loss of consortium. Suit also alleged violation of (1) N.Y. Lab. Law 200-requiring that owners and general contractors maintain work areas in a reasonably safe condition-- and (2) N.Y. Lab. Law 241(6)-mandating compliance with various state industrial code provisions, one of which requires that the floor and passageways of work areas be kept free of ice and snow.

Defendants claimed that Nuccio was negligent for failing to see the patch of ice.

The parties settled during trial for $1.67 million, including a $167,000 repayment of a workers' compensation lien of about $254,800, and waivers of other liens totaling about $125,300. The project owner and construction manager contributed approximately $1.17 million; the concrete subcontractor, $167,000; the mechanical subcontractor, about $125,300; and the masonry subcontractor, $83,500.

Plaintiffs' experts were Robert Radna, neurosurgery, and Jeffrey Seidenberg, economics, both of New York, N.Y.

Plaintiffs' Counsel

*Owen O. Hoberman, Brooklyn, N.Y.