$1,000,000.00

August 5, 2021 | Sagi Shaked |

SETTLEMENT: The Shaked Law Personal Injury Lawyers was able to overcome Florida’s stringent Worker’s Compensation Immunity laws and recover the entire one million ($1,000,000.00) dollar insurance policy limits on behalf of the family of the deceased.   Our client was hired by a construction company to remove asbestos from the inside of a building that was going to be demolished.   The asbestos was used as a fire proofing material on metal beams that were over 2-stories high and were a part of the roof structure of the building.  In order reach these metal beams to scrape the asbestos off them, our client had to stand on a 2-story scaffold. One day when he was in the process of scraping the asbestos off the beam, he fell off the scaffold and hit his head on the floor causing a severe head injury and, brain damage. Our client survived for a few days, but unfortunately later died from his injuries.

Following our client’s injury and death, there was an OSHA investigation into what occurred.  However, by the time OSHA was called to conduct its investigation, the employer failed to preserve the scaffold and had already dis-assembled and cleaned.  In essence they spoliated the evidence and thereby prevented OSHA and the Shaked Law Personal Injury Lawyers from determining if the scaffold met the applicable safety requirements. The Shaked Law Personal Injury Lawyers was able to utilize this to our advantage, and in the subsequently filed civil action convinced a judge to grant our Motion for Spoliation of Evidence.  In addition, through the information we obtained from OSHA, we were able to identify several witnesses who provided testimony that the employer knowingly allowed the employees to utilize the unsafe scaffold, which did not meet the applicable safety requirements. Eventually, we were able to utilize this information to convince the employer and insurance company to pay their one million ($1,000,000.00) dollar policy limits, which was utilized to benefit the deceased’s minor child.