$3.325 Million Settlement After Falling Plywood Injures a Cement Worker: Cabrera v. Silverstein Properties

The case began with a falling piece of plywood. At a New York construction site, the board came loose and dropped, striking a 54-year-old union cement and concrete worker who was on the job below. Falling objects are among the most common serious hazards on active construction sites, where materials get staged and moved at height throughout the workday. The lawsuit that followed carried the caption Cabrera v. Silverstein Properties, Inc.

Cement and concrete work is demanding, physical labor performed on active job sites. The blow from the falling plywood left the 54-year-old worker seriously injured. The nature and extent of those injuries were central to the value of the case that followed.

New York's labor laws place a specific responsibility on property owners and contractors: they must protect workers from gravity-related dangers on a job site, including materials that fall from above. A loose piece of plywood dropping onto a worker sits squarely within that category of hazard. Under those protections the duty is non-delegable, which means an owner or general contractor can be held responsible even when a subcontractor on the site created the danger.

Steven B. Dorfman of The Perecman Firm represented the injured worker. He pursued the claim against the property owner, building it on that duty of protection and on the medical record of the injuries the worker suffered. Establishing the connection between the falling board and the harm it caused was central to the value of the case. With Silverstein Properties on the other side, the parties moved toward a negotiated resolution rather than a trial.

They settled for $3,325,000. A settlement is an agreement between the parties, so there was no jury verdict to appeal and no reduction of the figure by a court on remittitur. The amount the firm negotiated is the amount the worker recovered.

The result appeared on two annual rankings. The New York Law Journal listed it at number 17 among the largest construction-related settlements in New York for 2020. TopVerdict.com recorded the same $3.325 million recovery as the 16th largest work accident settlement in the United States for that year, crediting Steven B. Dorfman of The Perecman Firm.