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A Must Read If You Are Taking Short Cuts
Article published Friday, April 7, 2006
Fru-Con has paid $11.25M
in crane-collapse deaths
By MARK REITER BLADE
STAFF WRITER
 Fru-Con
Construction Corp. paid a total of $11.25 million in
wrongful death claims, attorney fees, and other expenses to
the families of three of four ironworkers killed in the 2004
collapse of a truss crane used to build the new I-280
bridge.
The settlements by Fru-Con, the Ballwin,
Mo.-based contractor for the $220 million Veterans' Glass
City Skyway, were paid last year to the estates of Mike
Phillips, 42; Arden Clark II, 47; and Robert Lipinski, Jr.,
44, in Lucas County Probate Court.
The agreements were sealed by Judge Jack
Puffenberger, who made the records public yesterday in
redacted form in response to a request by The Blade under
the Ohio Public Records Act.
The estate of the fourth victim, Michigan
resident Mike Moreau, 30, was filed in Monroe County, where
the probate record likewise was sealed last year after a
settlement was reached.
Kevin Boissoneault, the attorney in that
case, has declined to make the information available and The
Blade is reviewing Michigan law.
The settlements were among the costs that
have been paid by Fru-Con in connection with the Feb. 16,
2004, collapse of the truss crane - the region's worst
construction accident in decades - which resulted in the
deaths of four ironworkers and injuries to four other
workers.
The crane collapsed while oving into
position over a fu- ture bridge curve at the skyway project.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration
later faulted Fru-Con for failing to secure the crane
adequately.
Fru-Con eventually agreed to pay a
$280,000 fine to the agency if it changed its classification
of violations related to the accident from "willful" to
"unclassified."
A criminal investigation into the accident
is being conducted by Toledo police and the Lucas County
prosecutor's office to determine whether any charges could
be filed against a company or against individuals.
According to the probate court records
released yesterday, the estates of Mr. Clark and Mr.
Phillips were each paid $4.5 million, while $2.25 million
went to the estate of Mr. Lipinski - before any expenses.
Among the reasons for the difference in the settlement
amounts are the number of survivors, including children, as
well as attorney costs and other expenses in the cases.
After costs, records show that the family
of Mr. Clark agreed to a payment of $2,375,206. The Michigan
law firm of Fieger, Fieger, Kenney & Johnson that handled
the estate received $1,793,470, or roughly 40 percent of the
settlement, and $331,324 was allocated for other expenses in
the case.
Fru-Con agreed to pay $2,733,238 to the
family of Mr. Phillips to settle his estate's wrongful death
claim, while $1.5 million, or one-third of the settlement,
went to the law firm of Connelly, Jackson & Collier and
attorney Joan Rife. An additional $266,762 was paid to cover
other costs.
The beneficiaries of Mr. Lipinski were
awarded $1,439,124. Attorneys representing the estate,
including attorneys with the law firm of Gallon, Takacs,
Boissoneault & Schaffer, were paid $562,500 and $248,376 was
set aside for additional costs in the case.
The beneficiaries of the estates are not
taxed by the IRS in wrongful death settlements.
Attorneys representing the families argued
to Judge Puffenberger during a hearing yesterday that the
records should remain under seal, in part because of the
privacy interests of the families.
However, Fritz Byers, an attorney for The
Blade, said the records were public documents under the Ohio
Public Records Act and through decisions by the Ohio Supreme
Court. In particular, the state's highest court ruled in
2005 that all probate court records related to wrongful
death settlements are public records.
That case involved the death of a girl
struck by a puck that flew into the stands during a Columbus
Blue Jackets hockey game at Nationwide Arena.
Three other significant incidents have
occurred on the skyway project since the crane collapse. A
mechanical failure on Oct. 23, 2004, prompted a $70,000 fine
from OSHA. Fru-Con contested that fine, but a tentative
settlement has been reached, said Jule Hovi, OSHA area
director. Details will be released after a federal
administrative law judge has approved the settlement, she
said.
An OSHA inspection of the bridge
construction site Jan. 26 following two unrelated accidents
that caused minor worker injuries resulted in three
workplace safety violations being cited against Fru-Con.
None of the violations was related to the accidents,
however.
Instead, inspectors found a life-saving
skiff that was locked up, making it unavailable for fast
response if anyone were to fall into the Maumee River at the
bridge site; inadequate fall protection at a part of the
site in East Toledo, and inadequate measures to prevent
objects on elevated surfaces from being pushed over the
edge.
"We have no standards that applied to what
created those injuries," Ms. Hovi. "But while we were there,
we found these other issues."
In the two accidents, which occurred
within 15 minutes of each other, one worker was hurt when a
weld holding a winch in place failed and the winch shifted
and struck him. Another worker was tripped when a safety
cable being looped under the bridge caught his legs. Neither
man was seriously hurt.
OSHA is proposing fines totaling $16,250
for violations discovered during an inspection after the
accidents. The exposure to falling items is listed as a
repeat violation, and carries the highest proposed fine,
$12,500.
Fru-Con is contesting all the citations.
On Feb. 7, a 70-ton bridge segment fell 18
inches to the ground when a hoisting assembly failed during
a test. Ms. Hovi said no OSHA action was anticipated
pursuant to that incident.
Blade staff writer David Patch contributed
to this report.
Contact Mark Reiter at
markreiter@theblade.com
or 419-213-2134 |
