A lawsuit filed by a Brookfield man injured when his dump truck toppled at a Millport Avenue construction site is headed to trial, court records show.
The New Canaan Housing Authority is named as a defendant in the amended complaint filed July 21 in state Superior Court on behalf of Karl Nelson.
The suit stems from an accident that occurred on a Monday afternoon three summers ago.
An employee of Newtown Mulch and Outdoor LLC at the time, Nelson started his workday on July 10, 2017 by traveling to Bethel to pick up a load of fill for his tri-axle dump truck, according to the complaint, filed by Branford-based attorney John Keyes.
“He then took the fill to such site,” the complaint said. “It had rained the evening before and the fill was wet. The truck was, in fact, heavier than usual, and its weight exceeded that of prior loads, and was excessive.”
At the Millport Avenue destination—site of rebuilt four-story affordable housing units owned by the Housing Authority—Nelson backed up to a a retaining wall that sloped in two different directions.
“The fill area was soft from the nature of the area and the heavy rain the night before,” the complaint said.
It continued, “At the time Karl Nelson started to dump his load, the truck was pitched forward on the slope perpendicular to the retaining wall, and it was pitched on the cross slope toward the driver’s side on the slope parallel to the retaining wall.”
“When the dump body was about half way up, the driver side tires sank into the soft fill causing the heavier than normal load of wet topsoil to shift, causing the truck to tip over onto the driver’s side, and the plaintiff to be injured as described herein,” the complaint said.
Nelson “suffered a severe injury to his left shoulder with sprains, strains, various tears and injuries in and about the shoulder including to the rotator cuff, the deltoid, the biceps and/or retraction tenderness, and tendonitis, which required two surgeries, and will require further surgery,” the complaint said.
He’s “suffered and will continue to suffer pain,” incurred medical bills, suffered “permanent disabling injuries,” “has and will continue to have his normal activities diminished and disrupted” and will need more testing and treatment, according to the complaint.
In addition to the Housing Authority, the suit names Sweeney Excavation Inc. of Wallingford, general contractor and construction coordinator of the site as defendants.
Nelson is seeking money damages.
The original complaint was filed in April 2019. In an answer filed in January on behalf of the Housing Authority, attorney Donn Swift of New Haven-based Lynch, Traub, Keefe & Errante denied that the New Canaan agency is responsible.
“If the plaintiff sustained any injuries, as he alleged in his Amended Complaint, these injuries were caused by his own negligence” because Nelson “was inattentive and failed to keep a proper lookout,” wasn’t “watchful of his surroundings” and “failed to take the necessary and proper precautions,” among other reasons, according to the answer.
The Housing Authority is negligent and at fault because it violated a section of the State Building Code regarding safe excavation and fill sites, failed to properly inspect the area, allowed for a truck to be overfilled and didn’t properly report or investigate the accident, among other reasons, according to the complaint.
The matter is scheduled to go to trial in 2021, according to Connecticut Judicial Branch records.
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