Case at a glance
- Recovery: Confidential Settlement
- Injury: Neck and back injuries; three-level lumbar discectomy and fusion
- Practice: Personal Injury
- Attorney: Vuk Vujasinovic
A crane load struck the worker on a tank
The worker was employed by Doran Steel and was working at an industrial site in Cameron, Louisiana. A Viking Equipment tower-crane operator was moving rebar to the top of the chemical tank.
The worker’s claim was that the crane operator disregarded his hand signals and lowered the load onto him. The companies disputed that account and blamed the lead man’s signals and his attention to the surrounding operation.
Neck and back injuries required extensive treatment
Doctors diagnosed injured discs in the worker’s neck and back, along with instability in his lumbar spine. He ultimately underwent a three-level discectomy and fusion in his lower back.
The case addressed the consequences of those injuries as well as responsibility for the crane operation. Vuk and his team retained a vocational-rehabilitation expert and an economist to evaluate the worker’s losses; the defendants retained their own experts to challenge the claimed damages.
Testing competing accounts of the crane operation
Vuk and his team filed suit in Walker County District Court against Viking Equipment, its crane operator and Baker Concrete Construction, the general contractor.
The defendants’ safety experts reconstructed the operation and attributed the accident to the lead man and his crew. Vuk and his team retained their own safety experts and took depositions of company personnel.
Through that work, Vuk and his team developed evidence supporting their position that the operator caused the accident, that the companies had prior warning about his safety and that the work involved OSHA violations.
The case resolved through a confidential settlement
After extensive discovery and depositions, Vuk and his team negotiated a confidential settlement for the injured worker.
The resolution followed litigation over both the crane operation and the long-term consequences of the worker’s neck and back injuries.
Questions about the case
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