Drywall installer falls through hole in floor: Failure to place barriers and warnings: Herniated disk: Torn rotator cuff: Settlement

Law Reporter, May 2003

Buck v. Classic Builders & Housewrights, N.J., Monmouth County Ct., No. Mon-L-2204-99, Oct. 1, 2002.

Buck, 60, was installing drywall. In the area where he was working, a section of incomplete flooring opened to a basement. Buck fell through the opening. He suffered a herniated disk at L2-3 with lumbar decompression and residual radiculopathy, a torn rotator cuff, and laceration of the right tibia.

Buck earned $14.25 hourly as a drywall installer. He is totally disabled and unable to return to work.

Buck sued the general contractor, alleging that it failed to place adequate barriers and warnings around the hole in the floor. Defendants contended that plaintiff moved or stepped over barriers surrounding the hole.

The parties settled for $362,500.

Plaintiff's experts were Michael D. Walsh, orthopedic surgery, Long Branch, N.J.; John M. Toto, engineering, Toms River, N.J.; and Richard L. Ruth, economics, Warren, N.J.

Defendant's experts were William B. Head Jr., neurology/psychiatry, Union, N.J., and Michael H. Gordon, orthopedic surgery, Brick, N.J.

Plaintiff's Counsel

*Samuel J. Vacchiano, Red Bank, N.J.