GWC is honored to represent the victims of the faulty scaffold that collapsed at the University of Chicago Hospital’s new Cancer Pavilion project in June of this year, 2024. The faulty scaffold caused David O’Donnell and Jeffrey Spyrka to fall 140 feet. Miraculously, Jeffrey survived despite massive injuries. Sadly, young David’s life was taken. GWC partners, Louis C. Cairo, Louis A. Cairo and Michael D. Fisher are honored to work tirelessly on behalf of both these incredibly important clients. Partner, Harris Elliott, is leading the firm’s efforts related to the workers compensation claims. The firm is dedicated to bring justice to both of these innocent victims and their families.
The current lawsuit names two construction entities responsible for this tragic incident. The first named Defendant is Turner Construction Company, an international contractor that has built some of the largest buildings in Illinois. The suit alleges that the general contractor failed to take appropriate safety measures to ensure that the massive scaffold system that surrounded all sides of the core of a new building under construction was safely and properly erected, as well as the fact that Turner caused and permitted scaffold work to continue at high levels on the exterior of the building’s core when the presence of high winds were known to the contractor, but completely ignored, thus compromising the health and safety of the lives of those men that were working on the scaffolding. The second Defendant, Adjustable Forms, Inc., is a major concrete contractor that has also been involved in hundreds of concrete building projects in Illinois. Adjustable Forms constructed a massive concrete form pouring system with a trailing scaffold that was 20 feet below the form pouring section that is used by the involved workers to perform their work from.
The injured ironworker is Jeffrey A. Spyrka. Jeff is 36 years of old and has been married to his wife, Ashley, for 8 years. They have been together since they were 16 years old. The couple has 3 children under 6 years old. Jeff has extensive experience as a Local 1 Ironworker, where he received his training and expertise as a structural ironworker and has an impeccable safety record. The fact that Jeff survived this fall is nothing short of a miracle. Nonetheless, he has suffered life-altering, catastrophic injuries as a result of this fall.
David O’Donnell (27) is survived by his parents, David and Christine O’Donnell and his brothers, Brendan (32), Kevin (26) and Patrick (20). Following high school, David was trained in the Apprentice Training Program with Local 130 as a Technical Engineer and has since worked for his father’s company, where he has been groomed by his boss/father/dear friend, Dave Sr., to ultimately take over the company business. Dreams and aspirations have been shattered in the O’Donnell family as result of this incident.
GWC Injury Lawyers, LLC concentrates its practice on representing severely injured individuals, primarily construction workers, in both civil matters and worker compensation claims. The firm has lawyers and staff of 70 employees working exclusively on behalf of injured parties and their families.
To read more about this lawsuit here.
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