King County Jury Awards $150 Million to Families of South Lake Union Crane Collapse Victims

On April 27, 2019, a tower crane being dismantled at a Google office construction site in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood collapsed onto Mercer Street during afternoon traffic. The crane fell across an active roadway, killing four people: ironworkers Andrew Yoder, 31, and Travis Corbet, 33, who were working on the crane, along with Alan Justad, 71, a retired city planning official, and Sarah Wong, 19, a Seattle Pacific University student who was passing by. Three other people were injured.

State investigators concluded the collapse was entirely preventable. The subcontractors responsible for the takedown, Northwest Tower Crane Service and Omega Morgan, removed nearly all the structural pins holding crane sections together at the same time, violating the manufacturer's dismantling instructions. Work continued even as wind gusts approached and exceeded the 11 mph threshold at which crane operations were required to stop. When a gust hit the destabilized structure, it came down.

David Beninger and Patricia Anderson of Luvera Law Firm represented the family of Alan Justad and other victims in a consolidated civil trial. Over six weeks of proceedings in early 2022, the firm laid out how each contractor departed from basic safety protocols, and how those departures combined to make the collapse inevitable. Omega Morgan denied responsibility throughout and refused to settle, forcing the case to a jury.

On March 14, 2022, the jury returned a verdict of more than $150 million. It apportioned fault at 45 percent to Northwest Tower Crane, 30 percent to Omega Morgan, and 25 percent to a fourth company, Morrow Equipment, which had settled before trial. Approximately $72 million of the award went to Sarah Wong's family and roughly $52 million to Alan Justad's family, with the remainder allocated to the injured survivors. The Washington Court of Appeals affirmed the full $150 million award in August 2023, rejecting Omega Morgan's arguments on appeal.