Local 1 Ironworker Receives $40 Million Settlement After 23-Foot Fall at Fermilab Particle Accelerator Site

On May 25, 2023, James Daniels was working his shift on the Proton Improvement Plan II construction site at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Batavia, Illinois. The $978 million Department of Energy project was one of the largest active physics infrastructure builds in the country. Daniels, a journeyman member of Ironworkers Local 1, had been directed to the top of a two-story concrete form wall to secure reinforcing steel. With no aerial lift available and no adequate fall protection in place, he climbed using narrow horizontal metal pieces as footholds. Near the top, roughly 23 feet off the ground, he lost his footing.

Daniels struck an angled wall support on the way down before landing on the concrete floor below. He sustained a traumatic brain injury and head trauma, multiple rib fractures, an ankle injury, and nerve damage causing chronic pain in his left hand. He was placed in a medically induced coma for nearly a month and remained hospitalized for weeks. His medical expenses exceeded $1.2 million. Physicians concluded he would not be able to return to work as an ironworker.

A Department of Energy accident investigation subsequently found the incident 'was preventable,' citing failures across multiple levels: improper use of fall protection equipment, unclear definitions of work scope, and inadequate safety documentation among the subcontractors and the general contractor.

GWC Injury Lawyers filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court against Fermi Research Alliance, the site owner and construction manager, general contractor Whittaker Construction and Excavation Co., and Harris Rebar entities that employed subcontracted workers on the wall. Partners Louis C. Cairo and Michael Fisher oversaw the case, while partners Louis Anthony Cairo and Lawrence Amato handled discovery and carried the matter through mediation. The case was never tried.

In early 2026, shortly before the case was set for trial, the parties reached a $40 million settlement. The resolution covers Daniels and his wife, who asserted a loss of consortium claim. The settlement is one of the largest construction-injury results in Illinois in recent years.