TRIAL WIN: Jury Awards Sanford Man $250,000 for Injuries Sustained in a Fall at a Home Construction Site

A York County jury awarded Brent Bouchard $250,000 in damages for injuries he sustained after falling through a hole in a home under construction.

Mr. Bouchard’s attorney Travis Brennan of Berman & Simmons argued that homeowner Justin Gowen, a carpenter, failed to take basic safety precautions to protect visitors and workers from the safety hazard created by the hole at the construction site.

At the time of the incident in 2015, the shell of the ranch-style home in Wells was complete, but no rooms had been framed on the inside. The house was lit with a few lightbulbs that were hung from the ceiling. In the middle of the first floor was a large hole where Mr. Gowen intended to build stairs to the basement. Although Mr. Gowen had created a plywood cover for the hole, he removed it on this night to begin working in the vicinity of the hole.

That same night, Mr. Gowen invited Mr. Bouchard to the construction site to pick up scrap wood. It was his first time there. Without warning Mr. Bouchard fell through the hole to the basement floor approximately 8-10 feet below and seriously injured his back..

“We are pleased that the jury held the Defendant accountable for failing to take basic precautions that would have prevented Brent’s injuries.”

This is the second jury award favoring a client of attorney Brennan’s in the span of two weeks. Last week an Aroostook County jury ordered Cary Medical Center to pay $1.2 million to a client for discharging a patient from the emergency department who had ongoing internal bleeding in her leg.