Case Against FIP, Advanced Performance Glass Headed for Trial as Judge Denies Summary Judgment
A Superior Court judge denied most motions for summary judgment by defendant companies in the case of a defective scaffold, and allowed a carpenter who was injured on the job to proceed with his suit. The case is set to go to trial in early 2020.
June 04, 2019 at 01:02 PM
4 minute read
A Hartford Superior Court judge has denied requests from a general contractor and scaffold owner for summary judgment in a lawsuit filed by a carpenter who claims he was injured after falling 50 feet from a defective scaffold.
The two businesses tried to shift blame to Billy Joe Madore, who was injured in the June 2016 construction project in Hartford. But Superior Court Judge Matthew Dallas Gordon ruled Friday that the negligent claims would stand against FIP Construction Inc., the project's general contractor, and Advanced Performance Glass Inc., which owned the scaffold. The judge also denied Advanced Performance Glass' motion for summary judgment related to recklessness, while granting summary judgment for recklessness as it dealt with FIP.
Both companies denied they were negligent or reckless, and have asserted in court papers that Madore, a 49-year-old Harwinton resident, caused his own injuries because he failed to ensure the wheels on the scaffold were locked, and failed to properly anchor himself into the building. Madore was working on the third floor of a construction site for a project at the Bone and Joint Institute building at Hartford Hospital. The scaffold rolled off a 12-inch step and crashed to the ground. Madore has not worked since the accident.
Madore was an employee of Total Wall Systems Inc., which is not a defendant in the case. Madore, who has incurred $702,000 in medical expenses to date, has received ongoing workers' compensation benefits from Total Wall Systems, according to his attorney, Sean Stokes of Hartford-based RisCassi & Davis.
Stokes said Madore injured his entire pelvic girdle in the fall. In addition, Stokes told the Connecticut Law Tribune Tuesday, Madore “had a host of other internal injuries. It's a miracle he was not killed.”
Those injuries, Stokes said, included injuries to his diaphragm, which compromised his breathing. Madore also suffered multiple rib fractures, broke two levels of his lumbar vertebrae, fractured his left upper arm and left elbow, lacerated his kidney and suffered a contusion in his aorta.
“My client today is stoic with a dose of defeatism,” Stokes said. “This really took the wind out of his sails in more ways than one.”
Both FIP and Advanced Performance Glass moved for summary judgment, asserting Total Wall Systems had exclusive control over the scaffold. Madore's legal team responded that Advanced Performance Glass owned the scaffold and should have known the caster wheels on the scaffold were worn to the point that none of them locked correctly. With regard to FIP, the plaintiffs asserted the company exerted broad and extensive control over all of the scaffolds on the project.
The judge said that, with regard to negligence by both companies, “There are genuine issues of material fact that render summary judgment inappropriate.”
With regard to FIP, Gordon, in denying the motion for summary judgment for negligence, wrote that the level of oversight and control the company exerted at the job site was “stringent and detailed.” As it relates to Advanced Performance Glass, Gordon said there could be a permissible inference that the company “acted recklessly in allowing others to use the scaffold despite knowing of its defective condition.”
Representing FIP is Claire McNamara of Branford-based Milano & Wanat. McNamara did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Representing Advanced Performance Glass is Cheshire-based Nuzzo & Roberts attorney Michele Wojcik, who did not respond to a request for comment.
Assisting Stokes were his colleagues, Paul Iannaccone and Brendan Faulkner.
Trial is scheduled for January 2020 in Hartford Superior Court.
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