$68.5 Million Jury Award to Widow of Philadelphia Construction Worker Killed in 2021 Fatal Fall From OCF Fitler Square Luxury Townhome Development Site
June 28 2024 - 2:01PM
$68.5 million in damages was awarded yesterday by a Philadelphia
jury to the widow of a 38-year-old construction worker who was
killed in December, 2021, after falling from an unsecured, unsafe
fifth-floor balcony at a Fitler Square luxury townhouse site
developed by defendant OCF Construction LLC. Siarhei Marhunou's
widow, Hanna, and the couple’s now three-year-old son, were
represented at trial of the negligence, wrongful death and survival
action litigation (Marhunova v. OCF Construction, LLC, Philadelphia
Court of Common Pleas, Case ID: 220501520) by the catastrophic
construction negligence team (Jeffrey P. Goodman and Aidan B.
Carickhoff) from Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky.
“Worker safety can never come second to profits. The evidence in
this case showed OCF cut corners on this project at every turn, and
it had tragic consequences. Management of this construction project
was a labyrinth of corporate structure designed to protect the
developers. Instead, construction projects need to be set up to
protect workers. The jury saw through OCF's shell games."
Attorney Carickhoff said after the four-day, Court of Common
Pleas trial, “No amount of money can ever compensate this grieving,
resilient family for their loss. The verdict was just and provided
accountability. It was an honor to represent a family with the
courage to stand up against businesses who believe they're above
the law."
The tragedy occurred December 15, 2021, at 2330 Sansom St., in
the city’s Fitler Square neighborhood, where a new five-unit
townhouse cluster was being developed by Ori Feibush through
several of his affiliated companies; OCF Construction, LLC, was the
general contractor. Mr. Marhunou, working for a subcontractor, was
installing siding when he fell about 50 feet through a temporary
wooden railing to the ground from a fifth-floor balcony. There were
numerous violations of OSHA construction-site safety requirements,
that include extensive fall protections when workers are more than
six feet above the ground.
In addition to OCF Construction, a portion of the jury award was
allocated to defendants: Fitler Construction Group, 2330 Sansom
Street LLC, HSC Construction, and Hammers Construction. Only
Hammers and HSC were not Feibush-affiliated businesses.
Contacts:Jeffrey P. Goodman / jgoodman@smbb.com /
215-840-6450Aidan B. Carickhoff / acarickhoff@smbb.com /
215-575-3861 Steph Rosenfeld / steph@idadvisors.com /
215-514-4101
Photo
available: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/66ead80a-06c0-4b26-9aff-99695124784e