Texas Construction Employer To Pay $17M For Fatal Accident
HOUSTON, Texas – A family of a drowned construction worker was awarded $17.72 million last week by a Harris County jury. The worker drowned in January 2014 while working on Baylor University’s McLane Stadium pedestrian bridge.
The Incident
55-year-old Jose Dario Suarez of Manor drowned on January 28, 2014 when a hydraulic lift rolled from a modular barge into the icy Brazos River with Suarez and another worker strapped to the lift.
The other worker, Terry Watson, was working with Suarez on the underside of the pedestrian bridge that is part of Baylor’s new McLane Stadium when Watson moved the boom lift from the center to the corner of the barge to allow better access to the work area. Unfortunately, the hydraulic lift was not chained down as required by regulations and the lift ultimately rolled over the edge of the barge, into the water.
After about two minutes underwater, Watson was able to free himself from his harness and he was able to swim to the surface and out of the water. Mr. Suarez was not as fortunate and sank to the bottom of the river with the hydraulic lift.
Suarez and Watson worked for Derr and Isbell Construction, who was penalized $7,000 by OSHA for failing to secure the lift to the barge.
The Trial
Houston attorney Vuk Vujasinovic, who represented Suarez’s wife, two daughters, son and mother in the lawsuit, asked the jury to place 100 percent of the blame on the general contractor of the project, Austin Bridge and Road Company, for the death of Suarez. That is just what the jury did.
After a six-hour deliberation over two days, the jury placed all of the blame for Suarez’s death on Austin Bridge and Road Co.
During the trial, Vujasinovic had alleged that work crews made absolutely no effort to rescue the two workers who toppled into the river while strapped to their hydraulic lift. He also alleged that not only was there no rescue attempt, the crews were instructed to continue working because the $266 million project was behind schedule by some four months.
Waco police Officer Francisco Reyes testified at the trial that workers continued constructing the bridge as Suarez’s body lay at the bottom of the river.
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