The estate of an undocumented worker who was crushed to death under a collapsing housing excavation has settled for $5 million with the construction company that was excavating the land, one of the estate’s attorneys has reported.
According to court records, the estate of Fidel Arana sued West Lawn, Pa.-based Grande Land, saying it was negligent in its excavation of a large residential housing foundation for failing to slope or “bench” the walls of the ditch in order to prevent cave-ins. The lawsuit pointed to citations Grande received for violating three Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards related to excavating land. Those included failing to slope the excavation, failing to properly inspect it, and allowing standing water to accumulate within it.
