$1.775 Million Verdict for Ironworker Who Fell From Unprotected Steel Frame at Delaware Construction Site

Jacob Boyce was 59 years old and working as an ironworker on a Delaware construction project when he fell from an open steel framing beam. The fall, approximately 13 feet to the ground below, left him with fractures to his spine and wrist. The consequences were serious and lasting.

Boyce filed suit in federal court against EDIS Company and Bellevue Holding Company, alleged to have operated as a joint venture controlling the project, along with Falcon Steel Company, the steel subcontractor. The core of his claim was that the defendants had failed to provide any fall protection at the site, exposing workers to a foreseeable and preventable hazard.

The defense countered that federal OSHA regulations did not require fall protection for falls of less than 20 feet, a threshold Boyce's fall arguably did not reach. Arthur Krawitz of Doroshow, Pasquale, Krawitz and Bhaya challenged that interpretation and argued that the absence of protective measures still constituted negligence regardless of whether the precise regulatory threshold applied.

The jury sided with Boyce. After a five-day trial in December 2001, the federal jury in Delaware returned a verdict of $1.775 million for Jacob Boyce and $500,000 for his wife Rosann's loss of consortium claim, bringing the initial award to $2.275 million. Co-counsel Debra C. Aldrich also appeared for the plaintiff.

The case was docketed as No. 98-386-SLR in the District of Delaware and decided by Judge Sue L. Robinson. In a September 30, 2002 post-trial opinion, the court denied the defendants' motion for judgment as a matter of law and upheld the $1.775 million award to Jacob Boyce as reasonable and supported by the record. The court did, however, find the $500,000 consortium award excessive and denied the defendants' new-trial motion only on the condition that the plaintiffs accept a remittitur reducing that portion of the award.