Union Carpenter Recovers After Steel Beam Falls On Back ($1.6 Million)


After over 4 years of litigation, the lead trial team at Horwitz, Horwitz & Associates secured a $1,600,000.00 settlement on behalf of a Local 80 Union Carpenter.

The Case

The Local 80 journeyman carpenter was working for Pepper Construction Company when he suffered a serious lower back injury. The forty-one-year-old union carpenter was working alongside a fellow employee installing elevated drywall with the assistance of a scissors lift.

In-Depth Look

The carpenter was holding a piece of drywall on the lift while the lift ascended when his partner yelled, “Watch out, he dropped something!”

A 10×10 foot piece of steel had fallen at least several feet and struck the local 80 union carpenter in the back. Almost immediately, the carpenter dropped the drywall and fell to his knees in severe pain.

An electrician who worked for Kelso-Burnett, the electrical contractor’s company, was elevated on another lift when he dropped the piece of steel that ultimately hit the carpenter in the lower back. Within minutes, the foreman for Kelso-Burnett was on the scene asking if the carpenter was okay.

The carpenter suffered a lumbar contusion to the lower back, 2 bulging disks, a contusion to the kidney, and spondylolisthesis. The injuries did not require surgery, and the carpenter was eventually able to return to work.