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ON WORKER’S LAWSUIT OVER CRANE ACCIDENT
Construction company denies it was at fault
A construction company has denied it has fault over a crane accident that caused injuries to its former construction worker at the site of Best Sunshine International, Ltd.’s Grand Mariana Casino & Hotel Resort.
MCC International Saipan Ltd. Co., through counsel Michael W. Dotts, asserted that any injuries suffered or damages sustained by plaintiff Anwar Hossain were caused solely by the latter’s own negligence.
In MCC International’s answer and defenses to Hossain’s lawsuit, Dotts said the claims are precluded or limited by the Worker’s Compensation laws and that plaintiff has failed to exhaust administrative remedies.
Dotts said MCC gives notice that it had no duty to protect Hossain from “any illegal acts committed by others that may have given rise to the alleged injuries and/or damages” that plaintiff suffered.
Dotts said his client gives notice that it intends to rely on the defense of “no duty to warn of an obvious danger.”
The lawyer said MCC did not proximately cause Hossain’s alleged injuries and damages.
He said the negligence of MCC, if any, “was passive and not active,” and may have “merely furnished the condition which was merely a circumstance of the events” that Hossain complained of.
Dotts said MCC admits that it has not paid for Hossain’s medical expenses, but denies other allegations in the complaint.
Hossain filed the lawsuit in federal court over the crane accident that caused a long and heavy pipe to roll, crushing his left leg at Best Sunshine’s hotel and casino project site in Garapan last February.
Hossain, through counsel William M. Fitzgerald, is suing MCC for allegedly violating the Workmen’s Compensation Law and for negligence.
Hossain asked the U.S. District Court for the NMI to hold MCC International liable to pay him $200,000 in lost wages and medical expenses, and $300,000 in non-economic damages, plus punitive damages in an amount to be determined at trial.
