Lawsuit Filed by Survivors of Construction Worker Killed At Apple’s Future Sunnyvale Campus
Aug 21, 2017
San Mateo, CA (Law Firm Newswire) August 21, 2017 – On August 9, 2017, Sanjiv N. Singh, A Professional Law Corporation, as lead counsel and The Law Offices of Kenneth C. Absalom, as co-lead counsel, filed a personal injury lawsuit in Superior Court in Santa Clara County seeking damages for the wrongful death of Jose Luis Delgado Lopez.
Mr. Lopez was a construction worker assigned to 222 N. Wolfe Road in Sunnyvale California, the site of construction of one of Apple’s several new monolithic technology campuses. The lawsuit seeks recovery from several defendants, including the general contractor Level 10 Construction LP, Webcor Construction LP, who was a major subcontractor responsible for various key aspects of the construction, and an entity of the landowner, Central Wolfe LLC. Central Wolfe LLC is alleged to be under the control of the prominent real estate developer Jay Paul. Mr. Paul is alleged to also be the founder and majority owner of Level 10.
The 23-page complaint alleges that Mr. Lopez was directed to work on the top floor of the clover shaped building on the morning of his death, and alleges that key managers had aggressively, for apparent cost saving and scheduling purposes, pushed for removal of key support structures in the days before his death.
On the morning of his death, the complaint alleges that Mr. Lopez was sent onto a platform that was known by the defendants to have no support because the support braces had been removed the day before. No one advised Mr. Lopez of this hazard which ultimately caused the platform to collapse. Mr. Lopez plummeted to his death from more than 78 feet, and was alive and screaming during the fall and even on impact, expiring only after his body slammed onto the concrete and dirt at the base of the building.
The complaint also alleges that Mr. Lopez’s death was concealed from his spouse for four hours, during which time his wife was left to search for her husband. The horrific accident has left her and three young children bereft of husband and father. To date, there has been no explanation as to what happened during those four hours and why Mr. Lopez’s death was concealed from his family.
Sanjiv Singh, lead trial counsel, remarked, “This is a particularly alarming case. Mr. Lopez’s life was simply not valued, and appears to have been sacrificed in an overly aggressive move to keep the massive project on a whirlwind schedule.” Ken Absalom,co-lead counsel, observed that “it is a sad day when an experienced and dedicated union ironworker is exposed to such unsafe work conditions, and those responsible ignore their human duty to promptly inform and console the family. This was an accident that was entirely avoidable and those responsible will be held to account.”
Apple, who has not been named yet but will be the subject of Plaintiff’s investigation, has not responded to Mr. Delgado’s counsel or sent condolences to the family of Mr. Delgado to date. Apple instead issued a letter by their insurance “claims administrator” which stated “our client had no responsibility or even remote peripheral involvement in the death of Mr. Delgado Lopez” and which stated that any lawsuit brought against Apple by the family would be dealt with as “frivolous.”
Mr. Singh commented about the Apple letter: “Sometimes, people say things they regret. Regardless of whether Apple had a role in this or not, suggesting it is ‘frivolous’ to seek compensation and demand accountability for the tragic death of a worker who died toiling to build Apple’s future monolithic campus seems just to be a bad combination of arrogance, poor judgment, and a lack of human compassion. At the very least, they should have sent condolences to the family.”
Inquiries to Plaintiff’s counsel should be directed to ssingh@sanjivnsingh.com or the offices of Sanjiv N. Singh, APLC at 650-389-2255.
