Roof worker settles case for $3.4 million
Suit claims worker was removing cables when he fell nine stories

Monday, July 26, 1999
By Robert L. Sharpe, Jr.

A Philadelphia law firm settled a negligence action for $3.4 million Friday on behalf of a worker who survived a nine-story fall.

Plaintiff's attorney Thomas More Marrone of Feldman Shepherd & Wohlgerlernter said his client, Joseph J. Madden III, has had 24 surgical procedures and likely faces more surgery for his injuries.

On Sept. 19, 1996, Madden, then 22 years old, was working on the roof of a 10-story apartment building in King of Prussia, removing cables and antennae from a 100-foot communications tower on the rooftop.

"He falls off the roof and lands on the roof of a garage nine stories below," said Marrone. "The impact exploded the laces off his workboots. He suffered horrendous injuries."

Marrone's theory of liability was that the building's poorly maintained roof was to blame for the plaintiff's fall.

Said Marrone: "I was up on that roof four times. We detected many blisters in the roof's membrane caused by water damage and exposure to the sun.

"Joe testified at deposition that he was looking up at the tower and trying to visually trace cables to the antenna, to determine which antenna he had to remove. He stepped on a soft, mushy spot and lost his balance," he said.

"Contributory negligence is always a problem in any case like this," Marrone said. "But there was physical evidence that the roof had never been repaired, and that the roof was unsafe in the area where he was last seen standing before he fell."

The defendants were the Marquis Apartments on DeKalb Pike; Suburban Cable T.V. Co. Inc., in Oaks which owned the rooftop tower; Micronet Inc. and Lenfest MCN Inc., both of Alexandria, Va., telecommunications companies whose antennae were on the tower; and the building's owner and property manager, JEG Associates Limited Partnership and Metropolitan Properties of America Inc., both in Boston.

The plaintiff alleged that Suburban Cable had a duty to ensure that cables on its tower were installed in an orderly fashion. "So when you took them down, you wouldn't get confused and need to step away from the tower and look up," Marrone said.

Defense counsel for the building's owner and management company was attorney Joseph F. Van Horn Jr. of Bodell Bove Grace & Van Horn. Suburban Cable's counsel was attorney Jeffrey C. Sotland of Edelstein Mintzer & Sarowitz. Neither attorney was available for comment on Friday.

The complaint was filed Sept. 10, 1998, in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The plaintiff, an unmarried resident of Blenheim, NJ, was employed for a company named Hard Hat Communications. "He had been on scores of roofs before," said Marrone.

His injuries included a fractured pelvis, 16 broken ribs and multiple fractures of his feet, ankles, legs, wrists and right elbow. "He has had two spinal fusions, and fully expects to have his wrists fused within the next two years," Marrone said.

"He is in constant pain. He is unable to sit, stand or drive for any length of time and has trouble walking," Marrone said.

There have been more than $750,000 in medical costs so far. Lost wages were estimated at between $500,000 and $2 Million, he said.

"Joe Madden is the greatest feature of this case. He's an extraordinary young man to have gone through this, and it's wonderful to see him try to adjust," said Marrone.

"I'm gratified that he will not be a victim the rest of his life and have to depend on someone the rest of his life, or be afraid to the rest of his life about being able to support himself," Marrone said.