The Kickham Comment - Boston Accident Lawyer Blog
Two Boston construction site workers were tragically killed earlier today in downtown Boston. While all such catastrophic events and the resulting tragedies are difficult to describe, this one was especially awful.
According to multiple news media reports, including Boston25 News, the two construction workers – Jordan Romero from Lynn and his co-worker Carlos Gutierrez of Chelsea, were killed in a trench accident apparently caused by a dump truck. The 20-foot deep trench at the site collapsed into itself after the dump truck apparently came too close to it, and caused the trench to collapse. When the trench collapsed, the truck then fell into it. From information available as of this evening, it is not exactly clear at this point whether the two construction site workers were already in the trench when it collapsed, or were possibly thrown into the trench first after the truck hit them. In either event, reports are that the event was horrific. It may be that the men died of suffocation, possibly buried alive. It is too soon to say at this point.
As a Boston construction site accident lawyer, I’ve seen too many of these awful incidents – involving catastrophic, life-long injuries and disabilities, and death. And they shouldn’t happen. While some might say, “Accidents happen. What are you going to do? They can’t be prevented”, that is not true. They can be prevented, and they should be prevented. Multiple levels of government – the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the state of Massachusetts and in this case, the City of Boston as well – provide regulations, minimum safety standards and safety protocols for construction sites – and they are designed to prevent tragedies like this. When those safety procedures and protocols are not followed to the letter, incidents like this awful tragedy today are what can, and do, result. So no, these events are almost never the kind that “couldn’t be prevented” – in the many cases I’ve successfully represented as a Massachusetts construction site fatality attorney, they almost always could have been prevented.
Very sadly, nothing can be done to bring these two men back. They were both young: Carlos Gutierrez was 32 years old; Jordan Romero was just 27 – reportedly he was recently married and the father of 2 very young children. Aside from offering my private prayers and thoughts for the spouses and families of these two men, as a construction site death attorney, my expertise and training automatically turn to what can be done to best protect and provide the best possible legal representation for these families. That’s what I do; it’s what I’ve done for more than 30 years. I hope that these families become connected to the right law firm for these types of construction site death cases – because these cases are a “special breed”: They require extremely talented attorneys, who have decades of experience successfully handling – and winning – these types of cases.
The family of such a construction site worker who has been killed on the job, will have lost the income of the victim. They will have massive expenses to pay in the future. They are legally entitled to be compensated for the pain and suffering, and death, of their loved one. Other compensation the family can be awarded includes:
- medical expenses
- funeral expenses
- future lost income
- loss of society and companionship of the victim,
- and several other legal categories of expenses.
To win these cases and obtain maximum damages for the survivors of the deceased worker, requires many years of demonstrated expertise and proven maximum financial results. While these two families need to be emotionally supported and helped in their grief right now, I sincerely hope that they summon the strength to think clearly enough to retain the best attorney and law firm that they can – because hiring a law firm that has only “some” experience with construction site death cases – and hiring an attorney that can show many years of proven, multi-million dollar results with these cases – will mean everything in the long legal road that lies ahead. It can mean a difference of millions of dollars in results at the end of the case.
Because the financial stakes in these types of cases are so high (usually millions of dollars), they are defended “tooth and nail” by the defendants involved. Or more specifically, by the defendants’ liability insurance companies. These insurance defense lawyers are “the best” at what they do; they stop at nothing to win.
And for that reason, I hope that the families of Jordan Romer and Carlos Gutierrez, do the same and hire the best Boston construction site accident law firm possible. Our firm has years of proven experience getting maximum dollar on these cases. As one expert attorney in this field, on a legal level I know that I would be proud to represent these families as their attorney. On a personal level, I pray that they can overcome this awful loss.