A North Carolina jury handed down what may have been the largest personal injury award in state history, five years after a retaining wall collapsed on workers, killing one and injuring four others.
The lawsuit in Henderson County, near Asheville, was settled for an undisclosed amount shortly after the verdict was revealed last week, local news sites reported. But if the jury award—$45 million each for two block masons injured in the collapse—had stood, it would be considered the largest injury verdict on record, BlueRidgeNow and the Hendersonville Lightning news publications noted. The jury also included $11 million for loss of consortium for one of the men’s spouse.
The lawsuit was filed against Hajoca Corp., a major U.S. plumbing supplies distributor, by Adan Rendon Hernandez, 34, and Magno Alberto Valdez Sanchez, 39, who suffered major injuries when the wall fell on them in early 2021, according to court documents and news reports. Marcelino Rendon Hernandez, 37, was killed in the incident, and his estate also joined the suit.
The injured plaintiffs in the case were not employees of Hajoca, but worked for Robert Crawford Masonry, court records show. The men were working on the wall in the parking lot for Hajoca’s showroom in Hendersonville when the structure collapsed. The lawsuit argued that the third-party plumbing company and its leadership were negligent in aspects of the operation: The wall was not properly braced and had not been tested for the loads bearing upon it, safety citations show.
The men and the deceased’s family were awarded workers’ compensation medical, wage benefits and survivor benefits after the tragedy, but they then pursued the tort action against the plumbing company and property owner, North Carolina Lawyers Weekly and BlueRidgeNow reported.
The North Carolina Department of Labor, which oversees work safety issues and federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations, fined the masonry contractor and Hajoca about $30,800 each after the collapse.
In April of this year, the plumbing distributor asked the court to prohibit the consideration of the OSHA regulations and actions against Hajorca. The company’s attorneys argued that OSHA’s multi-employer citation policy rested on rules that had been struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2024 ruling that overturned what was known as the “Chevron doctrine.”
The Chevron doctrine stemmed from a 1984 high court ruling that held if a federal law is vague or ambiguous, courts must usually defer to the regulatory agency’s interpretation. After the 2024 decision, courts, not agencies, must use their judgment to decide if an agency acted within its statutory authority.
Photo: An example of a retaining wall under construction. (AdobeStock)
Topics
Workers’ Compensation
North Carolina
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