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TF Cornerstone ordered to pay $26M to accident victim
Sean Dowdell lost a leg after falling 20 feet at TFC's Queens West development
Sean Dowdell was awarded $26 million to be paid by TF Cornerstone as compensation for a 2012 accident in which the construction worker fell from a scaffold and lost a leg.
A Manhattan Supreme Court jury granted Dowdell $6 million for past pain and suffering, $11 million for medical expenses, $3.5 million for lost earnings and $5.5 million for future pain and suffering.
Dowdell, 32, had 10 surgeries on his leg in the aftermath of the accident, but doctors were still forced to amputate, the New York Post reported.
He was employed by TFC at its $1.4 billion, six-building Queens West Development Site On Center Boulevard in Long Island City. Dowdell was working on an elevated deck when he stepped on a piece of plywood covering a hole. The plywood broke and Dowdell fell.
A judge overseeing the case said Dowdell’s “horrific” injury was likely the result of the developer’s failure to follow its own safety procedures.
There was another accident at the site in early 2013, when a crane collapsed at 46-10 Center Boulevard. Seven workers were injured.
TFC completed the project in 2014, announcing in September of that year that all 585 units at the 46-10 Center Boulevard had been rented.
A lawyer for TFC said the developer plans to appeal. [NYP] – Ariel Stulberg