Jury Awards Injured Man $10.5 Million
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A Los Angeles Superior Court jury on Friday awarded $10.5 million in damages to a construction worker whose pelvis was shattered beyond healing in a job-site accident.
Michael Hansen, 35, of Laguna Hills was installing sprinklers at a Vons supermarket under construction in Bakersfield in June 1996 when a lift slipped into a hole and toppled. Hansen’s attorney, Jerry Ringler, said workers previously had complained about the danger to the general contractor, Lyle Parks Jr. Inc., and the plumbing contractor, but nothing was done.
Hansen, an avid surfer and outdoorsman, fell 20 feet onto a concrete floor, breaking numerous ribs, his tailbone and his pelvis. Ringler said Hansen’s pelvis never healed, despite three operations. As a result, he is in constant pain and must walk with crutches.
“He’s left with a shattered pelvis that can’t be healed, and a shattered life,” Ringler said, “all because a general contractor wouldn’t put boards over half a dozen holes.”
The defendants could not be reached for comment.
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