Florida Fellow Brett Panter of the Miami firm Panter, Panter & Sampedro, P.A. recently helped successfully settle a serious personal injury case involving two Honduran migrant workers who were electrocuted on a construction site.

Gustavo Garcia and Jorge Mejia were both assisting a crane operator who was an employee of George’s Crane in lifting “joisters” – large concrete beams used to form the foundation of different floors to an apartment building – at a construction site in the City of Miami when the crane operator negligently moved the load and allowed the cable connected to his crane to come in contact with the energized FPL line. Mr. Garcia and Mr. Mejia were at the bottom of the load helping the crane operator and suffered injuries by electrocution. The 26 year-old Garcia suffered catastrophic injuries which resulted in his right arm requiring surgical amputation, permanent disability, and medical bills of approximately $200,000. The 31 year-old Mejia was also hospitalized and incurred approximately $100,000 of medical bills. Mr. Mejia suffered cardiac arrest immediately following the electrocution and continues to suffer from memory deficits as a result of the incident.

The crane operator was the skilled and experienced responsible person for the movement of the joisters, and Florida Erectors, a non-settling, current defendant, hired George’s Crane and was responsible for supervising all of the crane’s activities on the jobsite. RC Construction was the general contractor and the qualifier who pulled the permit for the job, and therefore had a non-delegable duty and was responsible for all the activities on the job site. RC Construction was also responsible for maintaining a safe and secure job site for all persons, including Mr. Garcia.

Suit was brought against George’s Crane, the owner and operator of the crane, and RC Construction, the general contractor and qualifier of the job site, Gregario Gonzalez, the owner builder of the job site, and Florida Erectors who hired George’s Crane and was responsible for all activities of the crane operator. The defendants denied all liability and asserted worker’s compensation as being the exclusive remedy for the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs argued that since there was no worker’s compensation provided to Mr. Garcia, the worker’s compensation immunity defense was not applicable in this case. On summary judgment hearings the trial court agreed with the plaintiffs, and an appeal was filed by the defendants. The case was settled while on appeal for $2.4 million as to George’s Crane and RC Construction. The remainder of the case against Florida Erectors is still being pursued.

The settlement provided adequate compensation for Mr. Garcia to be able to purchase a bionic arm, the newest technology of which is referred to as an I-limb. This device is a hand with five individual motors for each finger enabling the amputee with greater dexterity and great improvement in his life. There is also a very expensive silicone hand that through procedures of cosmesis can include paint and hair to resemble the rest of Mr. Garcia’s body so it would be difficult for anyone to even know that he is an amputee.