Illinois painter awarded $1.9 millon for injuries in fall at construction site
A Galeana man injured in a fall in a high school construction site accident has been awarded the highest jury verdict ever rendered in Jo Daviess County.
William Theiss, 52, was awarded $1.9 million after the two-week trial, which centered on the April 2003 accident at River Ridge High School in Hanover. Thiess was working as a painter when he toppled off a 15-foot-high lift -- he tripped on a chain serving as a substituted for the safety-mandated guardrails, according to a story in the Dubuque Telegraph Herald.
Theiss has undergone 16 surgeries after crushing his foot, ankle and heel. Doctors told him he can no longer stand for more than an hour at a time and confined him to light duty. He sued the construction management company, Hoffman Construction Company, and the drywall contractor, CIDAC Inc.
"I've worked on these kind of lifts all my life, so I just assumed it was safe," Theiss said. "I was just doing the job I'd been doing my whole life."
The jury found Theiss 30 percent at fault, which resulted in reducing his original $2.8 million award to $1.9 million. They awarded Theiss $777,660 for wage loss, $791,667 for pain and suffering, $625,000 for disability, $279,167 for disfigurement, $339,000 for medical bills and $27,000 for prescription orthotics for his heel.
"I wouldn't say that it makes me forget about the last few years, but at least now I'm not going to have to worry about paying my electric bill," he said. "But it's not going to be life on easy street for me. There are a lot of bills to pay."
The largest sum previously awarded for a personal injury in the county was $1.05 million after a man sustained serious brain injuries following a tractor-car collision.
If you or a member of your family has been seriously injured in an Illionois work-related accident or on someone else's property, the product and premise liability attorneys and the work injury and worker's compensation lawyers at Abels & Annes offer free appoinmtents to discuss your rights. Call (866) 99-ABELS.
