Kings County Jury ruled Caterpillar not at fault in a construction worker’s product liability suit

Rony Andrade et al v. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey et al

• Court: New York State, Kings County, Supreme Court
• Case Number: Torts – Other (LABOR LAW)
• Filed: June 15, 2018
• Judges: Peter P. Sweeney
• Case Type: Torts – Other (LABOR LAW)
• Cause: Product Liability

Parties Involved

• Plaintiff(s):Andrade, Rony and Alba Vanegas | The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Skanska Koch, Inc., Kiewit Infrastructure Co., and Skanska Koch/Kiewit, Joint Venture (3^rd Party Plaintiff) | Atlantic Coast Dismantling, LLC, Environmental and Infrastructure Group, LLC, Atlantic Coast Dismantling Environmental and Infrastructure Group JV, 9Second-Third-Party Plaintiffs) | The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Skanska Koch, Inc., Kiewit Infrastructure Co., and Skanska Koch/Kiewit, Joint Venture, (Third-Third-Party Plaintiff)
  • Counsel for Plaintiff: Michael H. Zhu, Esq.| Jared T Levine | Duane Richard Morgan | Paul S. Devine | Matthew Vincent Bruno | Brendan Thomas Fitzpatrick | Christian H. Gannon | Andrew Wayne Dean | Cameron William Brown | Kiernan Trebach, LLP | Trolman Glaser Corley & Lichtman, P.C. | London Fischer LLP
  • Experts for Plaintiff(s): Herrick Wun, M.D | Alan M. Leiken, Ph.D. | Debra S. Dwyer, Ph.D. | Robert Crandall | Richard Schuster, Ph.D. | Kathleen M. Acer, Ph.D., CLCP. | Edward J. Shen, M.D. | Alan M. Leiken, Ph.D. | Debra S. Dwyer, Ph.D. | Maria X. Sanmartin, Ph.D. | Stacy Booth, B.A

• Defendant(s):The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Skanska Koch, Inc., Kiewit Infrastructure Co., and Skanska Koch/Kiewit, Joint Venture |  Atlantic Coast Dismantling, LLC, Environmental and Infrastructure Group, LLC, Atlantic Coast Dismantling Environmental and Infrastructure Group JV, (Third-Party Defendants) | Caterpillar, Inc., (Second-Third-Party Defendants)
  • Counsel for Defendants: Thomas D. Robertson | Timothy R. Freeman |  Paul S. Devine | Matthew Vincent Bruno | Brendan Thomas Fitzpatrick | Christian H. Gannon | Andrew Wayne Dean | Cameron William Brown | Kiernan Trebach, LLP |  Trolman Glaser Corley & Lichtman, P.C. | London Fischer LLP
  • Experts for Defendant(s): Herrick Wun, M.D | Robert Crandall | Robert S. Vecchio, PhD. P.E |  Paul Murtagh, Ph.D., P.E. | David Baxter, CPENG | Craig Steigerwalt, MBA, P.E., PMP, CCM, PSP | Mark R. Cannon, P.E. | Philip Helmes, P.E |  C. Michael Dickinson, P.E. | Thomas Brady | Joseph B. Sala, Ph.D.

Verdict Information

• Verdict Date: May 28, 2024
• Total Damages awarded to Plaintiff: $0

About the Case

Cause

Andrade and his wife Alba Venegas (collectively the “Plaintiffs”) filed a lawsuit against The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Skanska Koch, Inc., Kiewit Infrastructure Co., and Skanska Koch/Kiewit (the “Third-Party Plaintiffs”), alleging that their negligence and violations of certain labor laws led to Andrade’s injuries. The Third-Party Plaintiffs then commenced a third-party action against Atlantic Coast Dismantling LLC, Environmental and Infrastructure Group, LLC, and Atlantic Coast Dismantling-Environmental and Infrastructure Group JV (jointly “Atlantic”), seeking contribution and common-law indemnification.

Atlantic denied all the Third-Party Plaintiffs’ material allegations in their third-party complaint. However, Atlantic contended that if the Plaintiffs proved their case at trial, the accident was caused at least in part by Caterpillar’s negligent design of the Caterpillar Excavator, failure to provide adequate warnings for its proper use and operation, breach of both express and implied warranties regarding the excavator, and the fact that the excavator was not fit for its intended purposes and uses. Atlantic argued Caterpillar was otherwise negligent. Those entities, as well as ACD, filed third-party claims against Caterpillar for Product Liability.

Before November 28, 2017, Caterpillar, Inc. designed, marketed, manufactured, assembled, tested, inspected, distributed, and ultimately sold the 2016 model year Caterpillar 349F hydraulic excavator involved in Andrade’s injury incident. Caterpillar first sold this excavator to the company Milton CAT, which then leased it to Atlantic before November 28, 2017. Atlantic was the contractor performing work on the bridge construction project where Andrade was injured.

Injury

On November 28, 2017, Roy Andrade suffered personal injuries while working at the Bayonne Bridge Navigational Clearance Project construction site in Staten Island, New York. Andrade was an employee of Atlantic Coast Dismantling LLC at the time. During construction work, a Caterpillar, Inc. hydraulic excavator, model 349F with serial number BZ200867, struck a concrete jersey barrier. The impact dislodged the barrier, causing it to fall approximately three to four feet and strike Andrade. As a result, Andrade sustained injuries. These injuries occurred while Andrade was lawfully present and working on the construction site. The accident was caused by the excavator’s collision with the jersey barrier, which then dislodged and fell onto Andrade from a height of three to four feet.

Damage

Atlantic sought contribution and common-law indemnity from Caterpillar in product liability lawsuit, asserting that any judgment awarded to the Plaintiffs should be paid by Caterpillar due to defective design, failure to warn, breach of warranties, and overall negligence related to the Caterpillar 349F excavator involved in causing Andrade’s injuries

Jury Verdict

In Product liability lawsuit, the jury found ACD/EIG, jointly referred to as Atlantic Coast Dismantling, 70% at fault for the incident. They assigned 10% of the fault to The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and 20% to Skanska JV, consisting of Skanska and Kiewit Infrastructure Co. Notably, the jury did not assign any fault to Caterpillar Inc. for the incident. The total percentage of fault allocated by the jury was 100%.  Although a separate trial on damages is expected to commence this fall.

Court Documents:

Complaint

Jury Verdict

Press Release