Philadelphia Personal Injury Attorney Blog | Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis LLP

A jury in Easton, Pennsylvania awarded $4,368,847 to a Nazareth man who was volunteering at St. John's United Church of Christ when he suffered a construction accident.

The man was injured one night while working at the church alone. He was reaching for a telephone junction box when he disturbed a stack of drywall, which then fell on him, pinning him on the floor until he was discovered 12 hours later. As a result of his injuries, and the length of time he was unable to get medical care, his left leg had to be amputated above the knee and his right leg suffered permanent injury as well.

Although he was involved in the construction, the man was not an employee of the contractors working at the church--CC Inc. Construction Services and Salukas Contracting Inc--so his suit was not barred by workers' compensation law. The accident occurred in December 2000, but it was not until June 2002 that the man and his wife filed suit against the construction companies and the church. The jury determined that the two construction companies were negligent, assigning 70 percent of the liability to CC Inc, 20 percent to Salukas Contracting, and 10 percent to the man. The church was not assigned any liability.

The majority of the award was for future and past medical expenses, while $ 1 million in compensation for pain, mental anguish, and distress was also included.