In a Burlington County case, Bielecki v. Haas Construction Management, a worker will receive a $2 million settlement after falling from a roof at a construction site, leaving him permanently injured.

Plaintiff Stanislaw Bielecki of Marlton, a welder for John Maltese Iron Works LLC, was working on a roof at the construction site of a new building in Parsippany. Maltese was the subcontractor on the project, which was overseen by general contractor Haas Construction Management LLC of Pompton Lakes. While working on the roof, Bielecki fell 22 feet to the ground and suffered devastating permanent injuries.

The suit alleged that Haas and Woodhollow Properties LLC of Parsippany, the property owner, failed to ensure that safety mechanisms were in place and that the work site was properly secured or fitted with fall protections. The suit also claimed there was no proof of any safety meetings or supervision by Haas prior to the fall.

“D rings, tie off points, guardrails, netting, lifelines are various fall protection safety devices that provide roof workers with the ability to secure their harnesses to a fixed point on the roof,” said Vanessa P. Patrizi of Marlton-based Borbi, Clancy & Patrizi, who represented Bielecki with partner John D. Borbi. She said the work site that Bielecki worked on had none of those measures.

The case, assigned to Burlington County Superior Court Judge Jeanne T. Covert, settled on April 11, after two days of mediation with retired Judge Marc Baldwin.

The $2 million settlement came on the eve of scheduled motion hearings as the defendants, denying liability, had moved for summary judgment dismissal,

Due to indemnification agreements, Admiral Insurance Co. on behalf of Maltese will be paying $1.39 million, and $610,000 will be paid by Harlysville Insurance Co. on behalf of Haas Construction, Patrizi said.

According to Patrizi, Haas contended that Bielecki was able to install his own tie-off and fall protection if he felt it was necessary, and that it was his own negligence that caused the fall.

Haas was represented by Mark Hanna of Kinney Lisovicz Reilly & Wolff in Parsippany. Hanna did not return a call about the case.

William Cunningham of Daly Lamastra Cunningham, Kirmser & Skinner in Whitehouse Station represented Woodhollow Properties. Cunningham also did not return a call about the  case.

Tricia E. Habert of Mayfield, Turner, Omara & Donnelly in Cherry Hill represented Maltese Iron Works as a third-party defendant. Habert did not return a call.

The suit claimed Bielecki fell from the roof when he attempted to move a ladder that was lacking proper rubber footings, causing the ladder to slide beneath him and drag him off the roof.  The suit alleged that the defendants failed to inspect all equipment on the site for visible defects.

Patrizi said Bielecki sustained multiple rib fractures, a right pulmonary contusion, right hemothorax, pericardial hemorrhage, liver laceration and pubic bone fracture. He also sustained head injuries and a cognitive injury, and a shoulder injury, she said.

Patrizi said Bielecki, now 53, is permanently injured and will require a reverse total shoulder replacement surgery. The injury has left him with extremely limited use of his dominant right arm. Additionally, she said, Bielecki also suffered significant emotional/psychological injuries from the trauma of his fall and near-death experience, she said.

“While Mr. Bielecki suffered devastating injuries and a very traumatic event, the settlement was excellent in light of the liability issues that place ultimate responsibility upon his employer for his safety and the strong comparative negligence claims based upon Mr. Bielecki's own expertise in the field,” Patrizi said in an email.

Bielecki, a steel and iron worker by trade his entire career, has been deemed permanently disabled by the Social Security Administration and will never be able to return to work in any kind of manual labor job, according to Patrizi.

— Suzette Parmley

Route 80 Crash Nets $1.34M

DelRosario v. TFB Trucking: A man permanently injured when he was struck from behind by a tractor-trailer was paid the first portion of a $1.34 million settlement in his Middlesex County suit on April 24.

According to attorneys in the case and court documents, plaintiff Antonio DelRosario was driving on Route 80 West in Paterson on the morning of Oct. 2, 2015. A car ahead of him, driven by Sergey Berezniker, struck a pothole and lost control, causing the driver to stop, though that vehicle was not involved in any collision. Behind the Berezniker vehicle, a truck owned by Hahn Prime Equipment of Rochester, New York, and driven by Wayne M. Coleman lost control while trying to avoid collision with the Berezniker vehicle, which led DelRosario to slow down, said his lawyer, Damon Vespi of the Vespi Law Firm in Totowa.

When DelRosario slowed down, he was struck from behind by a tractor-trailer owned by TFB Trucking of South Plainfield and driven by Renso F. Arrango, leading to injuries that have left DelRosario, now 27, permanently disabled.

DelRosario underwent a one-level laminectomy and discectomy at the lumbar level, and a one-level discectomy and fusion with hardware at the cervical level, as well as arthroscopic surgery to treat a jaw injury, Vespi said.

DelRosario, whose $250,000 in personal injury protection benefits were exhausted, was deemed totally disabled by the U.S. Social Security Administration, Vespi noted.

All defendants disputed liability.

The matter was scheduled for trial in February 2019, court documents noted.

The parties settled on the day of trial, during the last of three mediation sessions with Raymond Reddin, a retired Passaic County Superior Court judge now with Hall Booth Smith in Saddle Brook.

TFB Trucking agreed to pay $967,500; Hahn Prime, $319,000; and Berezniker, $50,000, according to Vespi.

Stipulations of dismissal were entered on April 9 and 22, according to electronic court documents.

L. Patrick Dacey of Bolan Jahnsen Dacey in Shrewsbury, counsel to TFB Trucking, confirmed his client's settlement amount.

Michael Lynch of the Law Offices of Linda Baumann in East Windsor represented Hahn Prime. He declined to comment.

The Law Offices of Robert Raskas in Piscataway represented Berezniker. His lawyer, Harold West, has since moved to the Law Offices of Cindy Thompson in West Orange. West didn't return a call to his new office about the settlement.

— David Gialanella