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A $75.2 million settlement has been reached in the devastating John Hancock Center scaffolding accident. The families of three women killed in the tragic accident, as well as seven people who were severely injured, filed personal injury lawsuits against the owner of the skyscraper as well as other companies involved. The total amount of the personal injury settlement will be divided among the victims and the surviving family members.
Nanatta Cameron was crushed to death while inside her vehicle. The 100-foot-long scaffolding was knocked loose by 60 M.P.H. winds, breaking 66 windows as it plummeted 42 floors, killing her. The massive scaffolding also tragically killed Melissa Cook and Jill Nelson while they we inside their vehicle. Several others suffered both major and minor injuries. Injuries for some included severe leg fractures and post-traumatic stress, causing pain and suffering for an extended period of time after the catastrophic event. Among the most severely injured was Peggy Whitaker, a passenger in a vehicle who suffered both brain and spinal cord injuries which rendered her a quadriplegic. She later died.
The cause of the tragic accident has been blamed on a flaw in the design, says AMS Architectural Technologies, Inc. Personal injury lawyers for the victims contend, however, that other acts of negligence contributed to the accident. The size of the wheels used in the scaffolding''s mooring, discrepancies in the weight of the scaffold, and other factors were also speculated to be causes of the accident.
The settlement of $75.2 million is the third-largest settlement of a personal injury lawsuit in the state of Illinois since 1986.
Contributors to the settlement include Hancock Center owner, Shorenstein Co., who has allocated $8.6 million towards the settlement, as well as the makers and the operators of the scaffold. Both Beeche Systems Inc. and AMS Architectural Technologies Inc. have contributed $26 million each. An additional $1.6 million will be collected from 11 other defendants to pay for property damages.
Chicago officials have most recently passed an ordinance requiring that all scaffold operators on downtown buildings complete a safety course.
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