$4.45 Million Settlement to Family of Man Killed in 10-Story Roof Fall
By Dean I. Weitzman, Esq. on August 8th, 2014
In June of 2010, Stanley Zarzecki, a 32-year-old cellular network installer, was working one night after a storm on the top of a 10-story building in Philadelphia making upgrades on antennas and related systems. As he worked, he turned to try to communicate with other workers below and plunged from the roof to his death, 10 stories below.
His wife and children will now receive a $4.45 million settlement to resolve a wrongful death lawsuit that his widow filed against the owners of the building and three other defendants, according to an Aug. 5 story in The Legal Intelligencer.
Zarzecki was working atop the building, Walnut Park Plaza at 6250 Walnut Street in Philadelphia, for his employer, Champion Communications, when the incident occurred, the story reported. Champion Communications had been hired by cellular company Clearwire and their general contractor, Excalibur Communications, to help do the upgrade work on Clearwire’s antennas. The building had contracts with cellphone companies Clearwire, Sprint and Cingular to place antennas, dishes and other cell equipment on the building’s rooftop, the story reported.
“Zarzecki had been on top of the building before as part of the overhaul, but had not worked on the building at night,” the story said. “When the Champion workers went onto the roof, they noticed the storm created some damage and had knocked a flagpole onto a fiber cable. The workers didn’t have their radios and so they had to shout to one another across the rooftop to work to get the flagpole moved so they could do their job, according to court documents.”
A short time later, one of the workers saw Zarzecki “stand up as if to yell something to the worker and then fall backward off of the roof, which had no fall protection,” the story reported. The victim died immediately upon impact.
The plaintiffs argued that the building’s owners and property managers should have had fall prevention in place on the roof, according to the story.
Excalibur’s insurer will pay $3 million toward the settlement on behalf of both Excalibur and Clearwire, while Walnut Park Plaza and Equity Management will pay a combined total of $950,000 toward the settlement, the story reported. Walnut Park Plaza’s parent company, Walnut Park Plaza 2003 Limited Partnership, added another $500,000 toward the settlement.
This case and others like it underscore the fact that innocent victims are hurt due to the actions or indifference of others in a wide range of incidents in every kind of situation imaginable. And that’s where having a legal team on your side that uncovers every fact to bolster your case and maximize your damage award is key.
We here at MyPhillyLawyer stand ready to assist you with your legal case if you or a loved one is ever seriously injured in a workplace accident, personal injury or vehicle crash case anywhere in the United States. We represent the families of victims who die in such tragedies as well, to ensure that their families receive every penny of damages that they are eligible to receive.
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