Steven A. Berman

Chicago, Illinois State and American Bar Associations; Illinois Trial Lawyers Association.

Construction Negligence:

$10.03 million settlement for a union ironworker who sustained serious knee and wrist injuries requiring multiple surgeries when, while erecting industrial racking at a large warehouse in Aurora, a row of racks was caused to tip and fall over onto his man lift. The defendants responsible for the construction site offered $4.5 million to settle prior to trial which was rejected. However, after 5 days of trial in Federal Court, the settlement was achieved.

$9.0 Million settlement for the electrocution death of a minor in an industrial accident in Central Illinois. The incident was unwitnessed and the Defendants claimed that they were not aware of or responsible for any unsafe condition that caused the death. The settlement was reached after extensive discovery had been completed. The deceased minor left behind his parents and a brother. The parties to the settlement are confidential.

$6.624 million jury verdict for a Local 498 Ironworker who injured his back when he tripped and fell on a job site in Belvidere, IL. The Ironworker sustained a L4-5 herniated disc requiring laminectomy surgery and impacting his ability to continue working in a heavy profession. The defense offered $250,000 to settle prior to trial, which was rejected.

$5.3 million settlement for a 40-year-old Local 1 Ironworker who sustained a herniated disk while installing a rebar on a construction site in Chicago. The injury required three surgeries including a fusion of the L5-S1 disk space in the lumbar spine as well as follow up pain management care.

$4.55 million settlement for a 57-year-old union caulker who was working out of a large boom lift that was struck by a passing box truck while he was working outside the building under construction in Chicago. He caused chest trauma and multiple right rib fractures, a collapsed lung (pneumothorax), and head trauma/concussion. In addition, during his rehabilitation from his injuries, he suffered a herniated disc in his lower back that was treated by injections.

$3.65 million settlement for a Local 498 ironworker who was injured on a jobsite when a heavy equipment operator carelessly swung the boom of a backhoe, striking him in the shoulder and knocking him to the ground. He sustained a torn rotator cuff requiring surgery. The heavy equipment contractor argued that the ironworker was not paying attention to his surroundings, and he should not have been in the area where the backhoe was operating. However, through the depositions of all the workers present, we were able to prove that the ironworker was where he was supposed to be and that the incident occurred because the backhoe operator was distracted by other work happening on the construction site. The Defense settled just days before we were prepared to proceed to trial.

$3.5 million settlement for a Local 1 Ironworker who sustained an injury to the tendons and nerves in his arm when he was working to set up a crane on a job site. The crane had been leaking fluids and was slippery. The Defendant, general contractor, maintained the position that the crane was safe and that the ironworker was careless and not paying attention to his surroundings. The defendant hired expert witnesses who testified that the only way the incident could have occurred was if the ironworker was not paying attention. The defendant agreed to settle just prior to trial.

$2.5 million jury verdict for a union electrician IBEW Local 134 who injured his knee requiring arthroscopic surgery after he twisted his knee coming down from a ladder while working at a UPS packaging facility, when the UPS package cart bumped into his ladder. The Defendant offered $125,000 prior to trial to settle the case which was rejected.

$2.4 million total package settlement for a Local 1 Ironworker who slipped and fell while working on open steel, landing in the man-basket approximately 5 feet below him. He slipped due to wet and slushy weather conditions accumulating on the beam. He sustained torn cartilage in his ankle requiring multiple surgeries to be repaired. The general contractor argued that the ironworker was not carefully watching where he was stepping and that it was not responsible for the ironworker’s connecting crew or for safety.

$2.25 million total package settlement for union laborer Local 1035 who was injured during a tunneling project when rocks and slag fell onto him, cracking his hard hat and injuring his neck.

$2.25 million settlement for a union electrician who slipped and fell on a sheet of ice in a warehouse under construction. The ice accumulated as a result of the general contractor’s failure to block the open doors and windows that had not yet been installed when it should have known that an overnight snow storm was on the way. Our client sustained a right shoulder rotator cuff tear and meniscus tear in his knee requiring surgery.

$2.1 million in total package settlement for a 50-year-old union ironworker Local 393 who fell approximately 14 feet after slipping and losing his balance while walking on open steel beams, landing on the concrete floor below. He sustained fractures to both wrists as well as a ruptured spleen requiring emergency surgery. The worker was not provided with or using fall protection at the time of the injury.

$1.9 million total package settlement for a union iron worker Local 444 who slipped on unsafe ground conditions on a construction site in Putnam County suffering a herniated disc and requiring discectomy surgery and pain management.

$1.7 million total package settlement for a union ironworker Local 465 who injured his back in a slip and fall while working to secure metal decking on a steel roof at a jobsite in Vermillion County.

$1.52 million settlement for a Local 393 iron worker who was caused to trip and fall due to a hole that should have been backfilled on a construction site in Batavia. Our client sustained a torn rotator cuff requiring surgical repair.

$1.5 total package settlement for a union ironworker who injured his shoulder while manually installing angle iron from a man lift.

$1.5 million total package settlement for a union painter who injured his knee while climbing an old wooden affixed ladder on a jobsite in Chicago.

$1.5 million settlement for a Local 152 Laborer who injured his ring finger when washing out a concrete bucket. The fracture got infected and failed to properly heal, and the last joint on the ring finger needed to be permanently fused.

Slip and Fall / Motor Vehicle/Other:

$4.55 million settlement for motorcycle crash causing severe TBI and requiring emergency lifesaving brain surgery. Our client, a 55 year old man self-employed in trucking, was caused to crash his motorcycle due to unsafe road paving (resurfacing) work performed on a busy road in Chicag.

$3.5 million settlement for a 58-year-old construction who was injured while going to work on a high-rise renovation project in Chicago when the freight elevator he was in fell two stories from the ground level to the sub-basement level due to being overloaded. The ironworker sustained neck and back injuries, which required spinal fusion surgery as well as needing a spinal cord stimulator implanted for pain management.

$2.86 million record jury verdict in Rock Island County on behalf of a Local 111 Ironworker as a result of a motorcycle accident at an intersection. Our client suffered a fractured tibia and fibula requiring surgery. The defendants refused to offer a reasonable settlement. At trial, the defendants denied fault for the accident and blamed our client for improperly operating his motorcycle, which the jury rejected. The damages the jury awarded our client was a record verdict in Rock Island County.

$2.3 million settlement for a 47-year-old ironworker who slipped and fell on ice and fractured his right ankle, requiring surgery, during the construction of a wind farm being erected on a large plot of land previously used as farmland. Although the defendant argued that the ice was simply due to the natural weather conditions at the time, we were able to prove that the excavation subcontractor was the cause due to its negligently performed site preparation and excavation work.$2.55 million settlement for a man working as a “flagman” when a large truck rolled over his lower leg causing the leg to be amputated.

$1.75 million settlement for a student who suffered a severe concussion when an inflatable amusement ride malfunctioned at a post-high school prom event. Our client was struck in the head with a chain when the apparatus came apart, and he continues to suffer from migraine headaches as a result of his head injury.

$950,000 settlement for a semi-truck driver who was rear-ended by another truck while in traffic on I-80. He sustained a herniated disc which required surgery and continued chiropractic care.

$668,750 settlement for pedestrians who were struck while crossing Aurora Avenue in Naperville by a Naperville Police Officer. The Village of Naperville argued that it was immune from suit under the law. It filed multiple motions to dismiss which were defeated

.$440,000 settlement for a union ironworker apprentice Local 63 who injured her back requiring an IDET procedure when she slipped and fell on water on the floor at a Jewel food store in DuPage County.

$437,000 total package settlement for a union painter who suffered a torn rotator cuff of his shoulder in a fall from an improperly placed ladder on a job site.