Back to Construction Accidents
Seven injured people and the families of three women killed in a 2002 scaffolding accident at the John Hancock Center will get a total of $75.2 million in a settlement of their construction accident lawsuits.
The settlement was announced the day before the case was scheduled to go to trial in Cook County Circuit Court. The amount will be divided among construction accidents victims and their family members.
Robert Clifford, a co-lead counsel for the victims, said the accident "should have never happened."
Those who contributed toward the personal injury settlement include Hancock Center residents and owners as well as makers and operators of the scaffold that broke loose and sent down metal debris from 42 floors above.
Beeche Systems Inc. who custom made the scaffold, and AMS Architectural Technologies Inc., which operated the scaffold, each contributed $26 million, the largest amount from a single defendant.
Shorenstein Co., which owns the commercial part of the John Hancock Center, allocated $8.6 million to the personal injury settlement.
Other defendants paying in the construction accident settlement include: McGinnis Chen AIA Inc., Eckland Consultants, the 175 East Delaware Homeowners Association, and Fort Miller Group.
Nanatta Cameron, 39, was stopped along the Hancock Center's south side when the 100-foot-long scaffolding ripped loose and broke 66 windows before it smashed her car. Passenger Peggy Whittaker suffered brain and spinal cord injuries that rendered her a quadriplegic. She died in July.
Melissa Cook, 29, and her cousin Jill Nelson, 28, who were in a car in the next lane, also were killed by the scaffolding.
Scaffolding was in place on three sides of the Hancock Center to allow workers to recaulk and clean the building's windows. No one was working on the day of the accident. The National Weather Service had issued a high-wind advisory for the city.
City of Chicago officials later said the operator should have noticed the manufacturer's specifications that called for lashing the scaffold on the roof or at the base of the building when severe weather was forecast.
The scaffold operator, AMS Architectural Technologies Inc., said at the time that it had used the equipment properly but that its design was flawed.
Attorneys for the construction accident victims contend other negligent actions contributed to the scaffolding accident, including the size of the wheels used in the scaffolding's mooring. They also said designers listed the scaffold's weight as 7,000 pounds when it weighed 10,000 pounds.
In the wake of the scaffolding accident, Chicago officials passed an ordinance requiring all scaffold operators on downtown buildings 40 feet and higher to complete a safety course. In addition, the law required scaffolding to be secured when work was not taking place and during bad weather.
Reference:
"Hancock Lawsuits Settled," Chicago Tribune, Lorene Yue, February 2006.
