Murder Charged in Queens Workers Compensation Death Claim
A Long Island man was charged with criminally negligent homicide last week for the death of a co-worker on a Queens construction site. Both men were employees of an electrical contractor in Forest Hills. According to the article in Newsday, the employee who died was on the forks of a forklift being driven by the employee now being charged with murder. The dead employee was hit by a piece of concrete in the chest. Police sources indicate that the employees may have been engaged in "horseplay". This was the second Queens workers compensation death claim in the past week.
Several points: 1) in the last year, forklift accidents have been on the rise in my office. Whether it is due to negligent operation or a manufacturing defect, these steel behemoths can be deadly. Be careful when you hear them beeping up the aisles at your local Home Depot!; 2) even when employees are engaged in "horseplay", they may still have viable workers compensation and Labor Law 200, 240 or 241 claims. New York State Labor Law allows the injured worker to sue the general contractor or owner of the property at a construction site. Based upon the facts presented in Newsday, I would investigate both the workers compensation and the Labor Law claims in this tragic accident; 3) Hats off to New York’s Finest, the NYPD, for charging this potential crime. Many jurisdictions would have chalked it up as only a tragic accident. Let’s hope Queens District Attorney Richard Brown takes workplace safety seriously and prosecutes the defendant to the full extent of the law. Accidents on New York City construction sites are a major problem. Prosecutions like this will go a long way to promoting safer working conditions on construction sites.
Occasionally, fork lift accidents may involve products liability claims as well. Several years ago I handled a wrongful death case in which a fork lift was sold with an attachment designed for use as a personnel hoist. The equipment dealer was unable to obtain the attachment that was ordered, and had another company make one to look like the photo in the brochure, but the latches to attach it to the forklift were improvised by the welder. The corporate VP who had placed the order happened to be the person on the hoist when it came loose from the forklift, and he was killed.
It took a lot of investigation to piece together the facts of the transaction. After recovering policy limits from the manufacturer in Florida, we made a claim against the equipment dealer for treble damages in a wrongful death claim under the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act, for substituting a knockoff product, by classifying the forklift as an "office supply." After the trial court denied the defendant's motions for summary judgment, and the Georgia Court of Appeals turned down an interlocutory appeal, the dealer settled for its policy limits the week before trial.
Excellent point, Ken! In fact, one of these fork lift accidents resulted in a significant products liability claim which is now pending. Thanks for contributing to our blog.