Plaintiff, a 56 year old pipefitter working for a subcontractor to General Electric at Commowealth Edison's Nuclear Power Plant during outage modification work fell approximately four (4) feet straddling a 6 inch pipe while climbing to a welding position by using pipe remnants as hand and foot holds. Plaintiff admitted that this was an unsafe act and against OSHA rules as well as the plant procedures of Defendant, Commonwealth Edison. Evidence showed that the Plaintiff was not provided with a safe work support like a ladder or a scaffold due to improper scheduling and coordination of the work and the build up of debris during the demolition phase of the project.

Defense contended that a scaffold, indeed, was provided with a proper ladder, but that the Plaintiff chose not to use it. Defense presented an independent eye witness who traveled from Florida to testify that he was the only witness in the room at the time when the Plaintiff was injured and that he, himself, climbed a safe ladder onto a scaffold to reach the area Plaintiff was attempting to access. The witness claimed that the 56 year old Plaintiff shunned the safety devices in favor of attempting to scale piping which may have included the side of the scaffold. In addition, although severely impeached, various defense witnesses claimed that there was no build up of debris even though trial attorney James J. Morici, Jr.'s use of internal project documents showed otherwise, and that a safe scaffold was provided.

Morici, Figlioli & Associates concentrates its practice in the representation of injured construction workers but also includes a wide range of personal injury accidents including work place injures, workers compensation, premises liability incidents, construction site injuries, products liability matters, and injuries caused as a result of automobile or other motor vehicle collisions.