$6 Million Settlement After a Tower Crane Ladder Fall in Manhattan: Stallone v. Plaza Construction

It was still dark at about 5:20 a.m. on February 6, 2007, when Michael V. Stallone reported to a construction site at 450 West 17th Street in Manhattan. Stallone, 45, was a union operating engineer who ran tower cranes. To reach his position he had to climb a ladder fixed to one side of the crane. As he was descending that morning, he slipped, fell roughly 14 feet, and landed on a steel deck.

The fall did serious damage to his left shoulder. An MRI showed a partial tear of the supraspinatus tendon, one component of the rotator cuff. When surgeons opened the shoulder, the picture was worse than the scan had suggested: a massive rupture of the rotator cuff, a torn subscapularis muscle, a torn supraspinatus tendon, and tendons that had pulled back almost completely from the bone. The tear could not be repaired in the usual way.

Stallone went through a second operation, a latissimus dorsi transfer, in which a muscle from his back was rerouted to give the shoulder support it could no longer produce on its own. Roughly 36 months of physical therapy followed.

The Perecman Firm, P.L.L.C., took the case, with David H. Perecman handling it. He sued the project's general contractor, Plaza Construction Corp.; Livingston Electrical Associates Inc., the subcontractor that had installed the crane's electrical system; and the property owners, among them 17th and 10th Associates LLC, the Related Companies, and Abington Properties. Stallone's wife, Michelle Stallone, brought a derivative claim.

The legal theory rested on New York's labor statutes. Counsel argued that the fall was an elevation-related hazard under Labor Law Section 240(1), and that Stallone had been put on the ladder without a safety line or any other fall-protection device the statute requires. The plaintiffs described the ladder's rungs as small and slippery. They added claims under Labor Law Section 241(6), covering safety regulations on construction sites, and Section 200, the general workplace-safety provision.

The case reached trial in New York County Supreme Court. After the first day of testimony, the parties negotiated a resolution. Livingston Electrical Associates' insurer agreed to pay $1,625,000, and the insurer for the remaining defendants agreed to pay $4,375,000. The two payments together came to $6 million. Because the case ended in a negotiated settlement rather than a jury verdict, there was no award for a court to reduce or for any party to appeal.