BENTON – Poplar Street Bridge contractors must defend a claim that their negligence caused the fatal fall of Washington Park auxiliary policeman Ricardo Davis, U.S. Magistrate Judge Reona Daly ruled on May 18.
Daly relied on an Illinois appellate court decision from 1991, finding contractors owe a duty to persons they might reasonably expect to be in the vicinity.
She found allegations of acts or omissions taken by defendants in relation to fall risks adequately addressed foreseeability and proximate cause.
Davis died in pursuit of criminal suspects, in October 2018.
Estate administrators Jacqueline Davis and Romero Davis sued project contractor KCI Construction in St. Clair County circuit court last October.
Their counsel Jason Caraway of Belleville also sued KCI subcontractors D & K Welding and Thomas Industrial Coatings.
The lawsuit claims the defendants failed to maintain a safe site, provide proper oversight, warn of hazardous conditions, supervise employees, and stop work.
It claims they violated standards. It also claims they stored equipment in a way that caused danger.
KCI Construction removed the complaint to district court in November, asserting diverse citizenship for defendants as Missouri corporations.
Defendants moved to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim, and Daly granted the motion without prejudice in January.
She wrote that it was impossible to find sufficient facts to establish that defendants owed a duty under common law.
She found the estate failed to identify a relationship between Davis and defendants that would inform what duty was required.
She found the estate didn’t set forth any allegation that a contractual duty to maintain a safe site extended to Davis.
She found the estate needed to allege the presence of a dangerous condition that an entrant would not discover or realize.
She granted leave to amend the complaint, and Caraway amended it to add specific claims that defendants should have addressed a risk of falling.
He also added a citation to Ross v. Aryan, from Illinois 30 years ago.
The construction contractor in that case was found liable for injuries caused by a metal beam protruding from a dust barrier.
KCI Construction counsel Robert Wulff of St. Louis moved to dismiss, claiming the estate hadn’t put forth a better case than the first time.
He filed an exhibit showing how few changes Caraway made.
Daly needed nothing more than Ross v. Aryan to change her mind.
She quoted from it that a general contractor owes a duty to furnish adequate safeguards to protect against foreseeable injuries.
“Aryan supports the position that entities like defendants have a duty of care to persons who are reasonably expected to come upon the vicinity of the construction site,” she wrote.
She found defendants didn’t address this assertion.
On May 20, she set trial next March.
She set a scheduling and discovery conference June 14.