Ironworker suffers back injury when construction elevator malfunctions $1 million settlement

Parties dispute distance elevator fell and why

An ironworker injured when a construction elevator malfunctioned received a $1 million settlement from the company that manufactured the elevator and the company that installed it at the construction site.

Plaintiff Karen Chaffee was injured during the course of her employment as an ironworker foreman for Rebar Inc. on April 24, 2002. Chaffee was at a construction project at Heartland Health hospital in St. Joseph, Mo., and was riding an elevator up to the second floor when the elevator failed and fell to the bottom of the shaft. The construction elevator was being operated by an employee of D.E. Contracting.

Chaffee was initially stunned by the incident and, after leaving the job site, she drove to Olathe, Kan., where she was supervising a construction site. When she got to the construction site, she could not get out of her pickup truck because of low back pain, and her employer sent her to an occupational clinic. Chaffee's extensive back treatment continued through the end of 2004.

Chaffee, 47, started her employment as an ironworker in 1992 and worked continually on the job with 70 pound lifting requirements until the accident of April 2002. Chaffee was asymptomatic with regard to her lower back injury prior to the elevator accident. In October 2002, she underwent a three-level decompression and a two-level arthrodesis. She attempted to return to light duty work in 2003 but was unable to do so. In 2004, Chaffee underwent several lumbar epidural injections, and in October 2004, she underwent a second major back surgery consisting of L3-4 and L4-5 anterior lumbar interbody fusion with placement of fusion cages.

As a result of her low back injury, Chaffee was given permanent lifting restrictions of 30 pounds and was restricted in all significant activities. Chaffee lost her job as an ironworker and remains unemployed. Medical experts for both the plaintiff and defendant agreed that Chaffee was not able to work as an ironworker, a trade at which she was earning $28 per hour at the time of the elevator accident. The vocational experts both agreed that Chaffee could return to the work force in a clerical occupation with additional education or training, but her earning capacity was reduced to the range of $7 to $16 per hour.

Chaffee initially named five defendants in her personal injury lawsuit. The general contractor and the construction management firm were granted summary judgment on the basis of workers' compensation preclusion. These defendants successfully argued that they were statutory employers of the plaintiff. The remaining defendants included the manufacturer of the elevator, Champion Elevator; the installer of the elevator on the construction jobsite, LICO Steel; and D.E. Contracting, which employed the elevator operator on the jobsite. Champion Elevator and LICO Steel filed cross-claims against the general contractor, Lehr Construction, claiming that a promise of indemnity was contained in the elevator lease agreement.

Chaffee's investigation of the accident revealed that Champion Elevator pulled a wrong part for the elevator assembly in its Houston warehouse and packaged it to the jobsite in Missouri. The wrong cam limit ramp was discovered at the time of the installation by the steel installer, LICO Steel. However, the LICO Steel supervisor failed to notify the manufacturer or request the correct replacement part. The steel supervisor admitted he took a hacksaw and cut in half several spacers to make the wrong cam limit ramp fit the assembly. Chaffee claimed that this modification pulled the ramp closer to the elevator tower and contributed to the elevator's fall.

An elevator expert retained by LICO Steel disputed the role of the modified part in the elevator's crash. LICO's expert blamed the elevator accident on wind conditions in excess of 30 mph at the time of the accident. LICO's elevator expert testified that Champion Elevator failed to adequately warn about the operation of the elevator during high wind conditions and that the elevator operator was not properly trained to take the elevator out of service in high wind conditions.

The parties attempted mediation on July 19, 2005, but were unsuccessful largely due to the inability of defendants to agree to issues of insurance coverage and the indemnity claim. On Nov. 22, 2005, three weeks before trial, a second mediation was held, and Chaffee agreed to a combined settlement of $1 million with all defendants except D.E. Contracting, the employer of the elevator operator. Of the $1 million settlement, $430,000 was paid by Lehr Construction, $300,000 by LICO Steel and $270,000 by Champion Elevator. Chaffee has filed an amended petition against D.E. Contracting, and the matter has been set for a trial in September 2006. Chaffee's amended petition has adopted the wind condition theory advanced by the settling defendants as the cause of the accident.

© 2006 Lawyers Weekly Inc., All Rights Reserved.