Second lawsuit filed in deadly scaffolding collapse at UChicago Hospital
CHICAGO - New details have been released about the deadly scaffolding collapse at the University of Chicago Hospital.
A second lawsuit has been filed, aimed at two construction companies.
After the workers crashed over 100 feet to the ground, doctors raced out of the building, hoping to save both of their lives.
David O'Donnell, 27, didn't survive and on Wednesday, his family filed a lawsuit. This is the second lawsuit filed by GWC Injury Lawyers.
They also represent Jeffrey Spyrka, 36, who survived the fall but remains in the ICU. His legal team said his life is forever altered.
The lawsuits name Turner Construction Company and Adjustable Forms Inc., alleging that both companies failed to ensure the safe and proper erection of the scaffolding system.
O'Donnell was the final worker to access the scaffold. He stepped on and began speaking with Spyrka and another ironworker near the corner of the scaffold.
In minutes, that's when a gust of wind caused it to separate, swinging away from the wall.
Both men fell over eight stories to the ground.
The attorney for both cases said the families are devastated.
"The cause of the incident is a failure of connection at the southwest corner of the scaffold system. If you connect them at the corners, now they become one scaffolding. And that's the goal. The failure is that the southwest corner, what they did was they had a piece of plywood laying on top of the scaffold… put some nails in there and that's how they held that corner together," said Louis Cairo, with GWC Injury Lawyers.
Funeral services are scheduled for later this week for O'Donnell.
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