A 66-year-old woman injured in a scaffolding collapsed in midtown Toronto last month plans to sue those responsible for causing the disaster that also hurt six others, including a six-month-old baby.
Lawyers for Hannah Somerset claim the injuries she suffered were the result of “somebody’s negligence and should never have happened.”
“Within a period of just a few seconds the course of Hannah’s life was permanently altered when she became trapped under the collapsed scaffold,” said Ryan Murray, senior partner at Oatley Vigmond in a release.
“She will no longer be able to work in the job she loved and will require months of rehabilitation just to regain partial mobility.”
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The law firm said Somerset was walking by the site of the Metrolinx Crosstown light-rail transit project on Eglinton Avenue West the afternoon of April 18 when the scaffolding above her collapsed.
She’s been at a rehabilitation centre since then for treatment.
“It was a nightmare,” Somerset said through tears.
“Thank God I’m alive.”
Her lawyer said the amount she will be seeking depends on the course of her recovery.
At the time, the building at Bathurst Street and Eglinton Avenue was in the process of being demolished to make way for the future Forest Hill Station.
Murray said emergency crews had to use heavy equipment to cut through pipe debris to free her. She suffered injuries to her head, both legs and a spinal fracture.
The planned lawsuit, which is still pending following the completion of the Ministry of Labour investigation, names the City of Toronto, Delsan-AIM Environmental Services Inc. and contractor Crosslinx Transit Solutions Constructors as the three parties in the case.
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A Metrolinx spokeswoman said the ministry’s investigation is not done yet but that the site has been released back to Crosslinx. She acknowledged a statement of claim has been filed but would not comment further, referring inquiries to Crosslinx, who denied comment due to the ongoing investigation.
With files from Caryn Lieberman and Will Campbell
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