A former apartment complex employee who claimed he was wrongfully terminated after injuring himself on the job was awarded $725,016, including $500,000 in punitive damages, by an Ocean County jury on March 20 in Lach v. Briar Hill.
In June 2014, Joseph Lach, a full-time maintenance worker for the Briar Hill complex in Manchester, injured his shoulder lifting a couch while cleaning an apartment in the 344-unit complex. The torn rotator cuff required surger in April 2015, and Lach requested disability leave of four to six weeks, to which Briar Hill agreed, according to Lach’s lawyer, Justin Burns of McMoran, O’Connor, Bramley & Burns in Manasquan, who tried the case with partner Bruce McMoran.
