Brickell tower fall. $847,500 third-party recovery.

Our client, J.R., a 38-year-old rigger employed by an iron-and-glass subcontractor on a 47-story Brickell condominium tower then under construction, stepped onto what he believed was a covered floor opening on the 18th level. The opening had been temporarily uncovered earlier in the shift to pass materials through, and the covering was never restored. He fell 11 feet onto the level below, landing on a stack of conduit. He suffered an L1 burst fracture, a non-displaced left calcaneal fracture, and a closed-head injury with documented post-concussive symptoms persisting more than 14 months post-incident.

Workers' compensation began paying indemnity and medical, but — as in nearly every construction-fall case in Florida — the workers' comp carrier had no interest in pursuing a third-party negligence claim against the general contractor whose failure to maintain the cover violated OSHA 29 CFR 1926.501(b)(4). The GC was a separate entity from J.R.'s employer; that statutory separation is what made a third-party claim viable, and is what the workers' comp adjuster will never explain to a treating employee.

Sterling & Reyes filed a third-party negligence action in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit naming the GC and the floor-opening sub. We retained a board-certified construction-safety expert (former OSHA Compliance Officer for Region IV) and a vocational economist to project the LOEC and future-medical needs across J.R.'s remaining 27-year work-life expectancy. The OSHA citation against the GC — which we obtained through a FOIA request the comp carrier had not filed — was admitted at mediation as evidence of breach.

After 11 months of discovery, three days of depositions, and a single mediation session at the AAA's South Florida facility, the case settled for $847,500. After the workers' comp lien was reduced by 40% under Florida's 'manifestation of justice' doctrine (Manfredo v. Employer Mutual), and all costs and fees were resolved, J.R.'s net to-pocket recovery was $521,000. He returned to light-duty work the following spring.