The $6M wrist

What news reports have dubbed the Six Million Dollar wrist (a quip on the 70’s TV show, the Six Million Dollar Man), involves Silvano Santos, a 45 year old New Jersey man who worked for a sub-contractor that installed carpeting at a construction site. He slipped on some ice, fell off the second story of a building he was working on and shattered his wrist. He had to undergo several surgeries after the accident and is now permanently disabled. He sued the general contractor for unsafe conditions at the job site – and the jury awarded him $6 million. Why so much, you ask?

The employer’s blatant disregard for safety

The employer in this case was responsible for keeping the job site safe in accordance with the Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSHA), the federal law which oversees jobsite safety. Testimony revealed that a guard rail that had been placed around a hole was removed to build a wall, but there was no alternative safety device such as a harness. It seems as though the job site was a safety disaster – and the jury sought to teach the employer a lesson. Although Santos’s hospitals bills were only about $30,000, the jury awarded him a great deal more.

Personal injury lawsuits often garner more than you think

Personal injury lawsuits such as this one often provide for more relief than most people might think – especially when the defendant’s conduct was particularly egregious. However, the main reason for the large verdict is likely due to the experience of Santos’s New Jersey personal injury lawyer who was able to show not only how bad the conditions at the jobsite were, but also that the accident was never reported to the town's Construction Code Enforcement Department – as required by law.

If you need to hire an attorney for a personal injury case, make sure that he or she is willing to go to trial if need be. Had Santos nearly settled for his medical bills and past and future pain and suffering, his damage award would have likely been much less than he received.