Undefeated Houston Work Injury Lawyers
Our client worked in the fiber communications industry as a telecommunications worker. He was hired on as an independent contractor to run and lash fiber optics across miles of utility poles on a fiber-to-the-home project spanning approximately 3,000 miles in East Texas. Visuffered third-degree electrical burns injuries while working this project.
The vast majority of the project consisted of standard two-phase power construction: two electric primary lines and one neutral line below the primary lines. However, on the stretch that Victor was working, the powerline construction was different. In this sector, powerline construction was two-phase shielding—meaning the neutral line was above the two electric primary lines, instead of below.
Victor got to a pole with two-phase shielding power construction. Unbeknownst to Victor, he would be working mere inches away from an electric primary line. Victor ascended the pole, he swapped his lasher from one side of the pole to the other; and as Victor was getting ready to tie off his lashing cable, his equipment incidentally came into contact with the electric primary.
Victor’s burns were extensive. He was hospitalized for a week. He required multiple skin graft surgeries.
We filed suit against the electric co-op, the design engineers, the general contractor, the make-ready construction contractor, and the subcontractor that hired Victor as an independent contractor. Initially, all of these companies blamed Victor.
They said:
- He should been able to recognize the difference between a neutral line and a primary;
- He should have known he needed to keep a proper clearance distance between himself and any type of powerline;
- He should have worn proper protective equipment (he was not wearing insulated gloves);
- He should used an insulated bucket truck, instead of climbing the pole;
- He and his crew should have done a job safety analysis to recognize the hazards before beginning work, etc.
We knew these defenses were out there. But we also knew that the construction specifications for the project contradicted the National Electric Safety Code, and compromised worker safety. We took over 17 depositions, and we learned that none of the companies in charge of the project fully appreciated the fact that there were different types of power construction, or that the construction specifications were at odds with the NESC. None of the companies in charge were vetting subcontractors, like Victor, for their knowledge and experience in working around powerlines. The companies in charge were not performing adequate quality control on each other’s work before sending communication workers, like Victor, out in the field.
We argued that each of these companies’ negligence built on one another, and created a snowball effect. The mounting negligence by all of companies culminated in Victor—who, by all accounts was unqualified to be working in this particular sector of the project—working on a utility pole and getting catastrophically burned.
The defendants fought us tooth and nail all the way down to the eve of trial. By the end of the case, the companies started blaming one another for the incident—while still blaming Victor all the while.
Victor’s case settled on the Courthouse steps.