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Attorney: Dennis M. Donnelly
Settlement $2,438,000.
Winter 2006

Partner Dennis Donnelly represented the estate and family of a 41 year old electrician who was electrocuted when high voltage current arched from an electrical substation which he was inspecting. The electrician subsequently died from his electrical burns after surviving for 52 days. Despite uncertainty as to the exact circumstances which lead to the arc which electrocuted the electrician, through years of discovery depositions and expert evaluation Dennis was able to establish that several defendants were negligent in failing to shut off power prior to the plaintiff’s inspection of the substation, and/or in failing to mandate safer inspection procedures and to provide a safe work platform. The multi-party settlement was paid by the owner of the substation, the designer of the sub-station upgrade who failed to provide a safe work platform, the general contractor who ordered and supervised the inspection, and another contractor who was involved in an earlier re-routing of power, yet failed to provide for shut down-lock out procedures thereafter. In order to overcome a vigorous defense that the Plaintiff electrician must have reached into the cabinet and caused the arc himself, Dennis used an electrical burn causation specialist who was able to show that the electrician’s burns were inconsistent with that defense scenario, and instead occurred when the arc erupted from the substation and burned him, even though he was inspecting the station from what would normally be a safe distance.