Steve has over 40 years experience involving all aspects of the construction field. He has performed in the roles of a construction inspector, superintendent and resident manager. He has worked as a general contractor, subcontractor and construction manager. He has performed over 1,000 construction investigations involving both personal injury and property damage.
He has experience and has investigated matters involving fall protection, scaffolds and ladders, cranes and rigging, and all types of construction equipment, including aerial lifts, scissor lifts, forklifts, backhoes and excavators, and concrete mixer trucks and pumps.
For one general contractor, he was the project superintendent on a $130 million hydropower plant expansion. For a precast concrete supplier and erector, he was involved with a $13 million parking structure for Donald Trump plus many others, including dormitories, hotels, office buildings, and prison projects.
Steve is a licensed Professional Engineer and has obtained a variety of additional formal training from OSHA and the Construction Safety Institute. He’s a member of ASCE and the Construction Institute.
- Curriculum Vitae (CV)
- Engineering Professional Liability - Expert Investigates Damage to Adjacent Structure
While construction was being performed on an adjacent site, the owner of an 80,000 square foot, two story office building complained repeatedly of vibrations in his building. After the construction was over he later claimed to have just discovered significant damage to his five year old building that could only have been caused by the vibrations. We reviewed the claimed damage, the original construction drawings for the owner’s building and the history of the adjacent construction.
View Full Case
HERE
- Trailer Unloading - Expert Investigates Construction Site Injury
A construction worker was knocked off a trailer and injured when he was assisting a co-worker unloading pipe from a flat bed trailer.
The opposing expert opined that a dangerous condition existed and that the injured worker was intentionally exposed to that condition. After reviewing depositions, appropriate standards and regulations, and a report by the opposing expert, our expert was able to show that the incident was caused by an inadvertent and unintentional action of a backhoe operator that occurred without any notice. There was no dangerous condition to which the worker was exposed. Our expert was able to show the incident was caused by the backhoe operator failing to stop the hoisting action when the slack had been removed from the load sling. Instead of just removing the slack, the load line was over-tensioned and the load was lifted prematurely before the worker could move out of the path of the load. The unexpected and premature load movement knocked the worker off the truck bed and injured him.
The case resolved favorably. The injured worker obtained a small settlement and the contractor avoided being saddled with an intentional tort action. The settlement was based upon the report prepared by our expert and his strong deposition.
View Full Case
HERE
- Demolition Injury - Expert Investigates Fall through Concrete Deck
A construction worker was injured when he fell through a weakened portion of concrete deck that had been partially demolished via a piece of hydro-demolition equipment.
After reviewing depositions, photographs, appropriate standards and regulations, and a report by an engineering consultant, our expert was able to show the general contractor and the prime subcontractor both failed to exercise reasonable care for the work being performed, specifically that the hydro-demolition subcontractor changed nozzle settings on the equipment. The changed settings caused excessive amounts of concrete to be removed and permitted the demolition work to be performed quicker. The change in nozzle setting by the subcontractor and the failure of the general contractor to control its subcontractor resulted in the dangerous conditions that caused the worker’s incident and injuries.
The case resolved favorably for the injured worker with both the general contractor and demolition subcontractor settling based on the report prepared by our expert.
View Full Case
HERE