Workplace fall leads to $2M settlement 

A construction worker who was permanently injured after falling 15 feet from an unprotected stairwell onto a concrete floor has settled his workers’ compensation claim for $2,006,000, his attorneys report. 

David Gantt of Gantt Law Office in Asheville and Perry Fisher of Fisher Stark in Asheville report that their client landed head-first and suffered a traumatic brain injury that left him wheelchair bound, non-verbal, and completely dependent on his wife for daily life activities. 

Pursuant to a confidentiality agreement, many details of the case have been withheld, including the names of the parties and location of the incident. 

The attorneys said that their client spent five months at Mission Hospital in Asheville, Asheville Specialty Hospital, and CarePartners Rehabilitation Hospital, and later received speech, occupational, and physical therapy. 

The client’s employer did not provide workers’ compensation at the time, the attorneys said, so they had to find coverage and place the largest financial burden on the general contractor. Gantt said that intermediate and general contractors who use “low-cost subs” are subject to assuming full financial responsibility when workers are injured while working for “irresponsible companies” that fail to purchase workers’ compensation insurance. 

Gantt said that obtaining the recovery was only part of the challenge because they had to structure the recovery to address competing demands of past and future benefits and current needs. The attorneys consulted with several law offices to coordinate the settlement distribution so that their client could continue to receive Social Security Disability and Medicare/Medicaid coverage and “achieve the best quality of life possible based on his unfortunate circumstances.” 

“I have a new appreciation for NCGS 97-19 [the section of the Workers’ Compensation Act governing the liability of principal contractors] that provides uninsured workers with substantial coverage for work-related damages, even if their employer does not have proper insurance,” Gantt said. 

Kathy Gleason of Candler mediated the settlement, which was agreed to on Sept. 3. 

Follow Heath Hamacher on Twitter @NCLWHamacher 

SETTLEMENT REPORT – WORKERS’ COMPENSATION 

Amount: $2.006 million 

Injuries alleged: Traumatic brain injury, subarachnoid hemorrhage, skull fracture 

Case name: Withheld 

Court: North Carolina Industrial Commission 

Mediator: Kathy Gleason of Candler 

Date of settlement: Sept. 3 

Most helpful experts: Cynthia Wilhelm, Ph.D. of Chapel Hill (life care plan) and Oliver Wood of Columbia, South Carolina (financial loss analysis) 

Attorneys for plaintiff: David Gantt of Gantt Law Office in Asheville and Perry Fisher of Fisher Stark in Asheville 

Attorneys for defendant: Withheld