Trial Magazine

Electrician Scott Liszkiewicz worked for Urban Innovations, the general contractor on a remodeling project involving the Prairie View apartment complex, a 16-building senior living apartment complex in Bellwood, Ill. The project involved the removal and rebuilding of the complex’s roofing, the removal and replacement of aluminum siding, and other exterior remodeling work.

Urban Innovations contracted all of the exterior siding work to CRG, LLC, a general contracting company with ­headquarters in Carmel, Ind. CRG was hired to remove and replace all of the project’s siding and windows and the roofing and aluminum siding on the buildings. CRG in turn hired R.C. Schwartz, a siding contractor, to remove and replace all of the exterior siding. In its contract with Urban Innovations, CRG retained supervisory responsibilities over R.C. Schwartz’s employees. CRG assigned a full-time superintendent whose sole task was to provide on-site supervision of R.C. Schwartz employees.

One morning, while R.C. Schwartz employees were installing siding on the apartment complex’s maintenance building, an employee obtained the CRG superintendent’s permission to cut off part of a guardrail around the building’s second-floor balcony to install new Hardie Block siding on that portion of the building’s exterior. The employee asked the CRG superintendent to obtain bolts and fasteners to ­resecure the guardrail to the wall. The R.C. Schwartz crew was under the impression that the CRG superintendent was going to obtain the bolts and fasteners and resecure the ­guardrail to the wall as soon as possible. The workers cut off the end portion of the guardrail, placed the new Hardie Block on the wall, and repositioned the guardrail into place without securing it. When the shortened guardrail was positioned against the siding, it appeared secure, even though it was not. The R.C. Schwartz workers then went to lunch. They did not resecure the railing, and the CRG superintendent allegedly never obtained the bolts and fasteners.

That afternoon, while Liszkiewicz was working on the second-floor balcony installing light fixtures, an R.C. Schwartz employee on the ground asked him to move a clamp from a wall of the building near the balcony. As Liszkiewicz reached over the balcony guardrail, it collapsed. He fell 20 feet, landing headfirst on the concrete sidewalk below.

Liszkiewicz, 50, suffered significant brain trauma and spinal cord injuries. He was hospitalized and underwent several spinal surgeries. During his hospitalization, he required constant pain management, and his doctors noted that his heart rate and temperature failed to respond to the pain medications administered. Despite treatment, he died approximately three weeks later, survived by his wife and adult son. His medical expenses totaled approximately $615,100.

Liszkiewicz’s wife, on behalf of his estate, sued CRG, alleging that the company was liable under The Restatement (Second) of Torts §414 based on theories of direct and retained control. Specifically, the plaintiff contended that CRG retained direct control over its subcontractor’s work when, through its superintendent, it authorized R.C. Schwartz’s employees to cut the rail. The plaintiff also contended that CRG retained full supervisory control under its contract with Urban Innovations when it assigned a superintendent to the site to supervise all of R.C. Schwartz’s activities.

The plaintiff also sued R.C. Schwartz, alleging that its employees were negligent in removing and later replacing the railing without securing it in place.

In addition to medical expenses, the plaintiff sought approximately $1.74 million for lost income, including approximately $976,000 for lost earning capacity and approximately $759,400 for loss of net personal consumption. The plaintiff also sought noneconomic damages for Liszkiewicz’s conscious predeath pain and suffering; his disability and disfigurement until death; and the grief, mental suffering, and loss of love, society, and companionship that she and her son experienced.

The parties settled before trial for $7.5 million, including $4.5 million from CRG and $3 million from R.C. Schwartz. The workers’ compensation carrier for Urban Innovations waived all but $25,000 of a workers’ compensation lien totaling approximately $569,400. The plaintiff paid the remaining $25,000.

Citation: Liszkiewicz v. CRG Residential, LLC, No. 1:1-cv-04088 (N.D. Ill. Dec. 11, 2017).

Plaintiff counsel: AAJ members Philip Corboy Jr., Edward G. Willer, and William T. Gibbs, all of Chicago.

Plaintiff experts: Scott Leopold, construction safety, Buffalo Grove, Ill.; David Gibson, vocational rehabilitation, Glen Ellyn, Ill.; and Barbara King, medical billing, Mount Carroll, Ill.

Defense experts: Steven Zebich, structural engineering, Chicago; and Ken Yotz, construction safety, Geneva, Ill.