Gusty winds toppled the crane after workers prematurely removed pins holding 20-foot sections together, resulting in a tragedy that state regulators described as "completely avoidable." Two ironworkers working on the crane, as well as Alan Justad, 71, a former city planning official, and Sarah Wong, a 19-year-old Seattle Pacific University student, were killed in the collapse.
Wong and Justad's families filed wrongful-death lawsuits against the companies involved in crane operations at the Google building on Mercer Street.
The jury's decision on Monday concerned the cases brought by Wong and Justad's families, as well as three others who were injured or whose vehicles were struck by the crane or debris, including Wong's friend Brittany Cadelena, who was with her in an Uber car on her way to a shopping mall, and the Uber driver, Ali Edriss.
The jury determined that three companies, Omega Morgan, Northwest Tower Crane Service, and Morrow Equipment Co., were responsible for $150 million in damages. However, Morrow, who was assigned 25% of the blame by the jury, was not involved in the trial and is not required to pay as a result of the verdict; lawyers for the victims stated that separate claims are being pursued against that company.
Northwest Tower Crane, which supplied the ironworker crew, and Omega Morgan, which supplied a large mobile crane used to disassemble the tower crane, were held liable for 75% of the damages. The companies did not respond immediately to messages left by The Associated Press after business hours Monday.
"It is a broken industry that has been cutting corners for years," Todd Gardner, an attorney for Wong's family, said. "You can't cut corners when you're tearing down a 300-foot structure in the middle of a busy city."
According to David Beninger and Patricia Anderson of the Luvera Law Firm, who represented Justad's family, the verdict comes after a six-week Superior Court trial in which Omega refused to accept responsibility, forcing the case to go to trial.
Plaintiffs' attorneys praised Northwest Tower Crane and Morrow for admitting some responsibility and changing practices in response to the collapse, while criticizing Omega Morgan for consistently denying any blame.
"It's straightforward. When your work has an impact on the public, it is your responsibility to protect the public "According to a press release issued by Beninger.
Wong's family received approximately $72 million of the $150 million award, while Justad's family received approximately $52 million. Gardner stated that the remaining funds will be divided among three people who were injured in the incident.
Andrew Yoder, 31, and Travis Corbet, 33, were also killed in the April 27, 2019, collapse. Their families have filed a separate lawsuit, with a trial date set for late May.
When the crane fell, Edriss, a 28-year-old Uber driver, was driving Wong and Cadelena. According to his attorneys, he was treated at Harborview Medical Center for back, neck, and hip pain, a hematoma on his leg, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. According to an email sent to students by SPU officials following the collapse, Cadelena escaped unharmed.
Sally Beaven, 62, was driving by the construction site when a crane piece hit the back of her car. According to her attorneys, she is still being treated for PTSD and memory loss.
The South Lake Union construction site, which eventually became a Google campus, was the city's largest construction project at the time. Even as Seattle became home to more than any other city in the country, the county had not seen a deadly crane collapse in 13 years.
Gardner said during a Monday news briefing that given the type of crane they were using, operations should have been shut down when winds reached 11 mph. Wind gusts reached 25 mph that day, and neither company followed their own internal rules, according to Gardner.
On a drizzly Saturday afternoon, video shows the crane listing south before collapsing into the nearly finished Google building below.
At the time, Justad was driving down Mercer Street.
"As the crane fell from the building onto the roadway, parts were separating and bouncing upon impact with the road and struck and landed on several vehicles," Justad's children claimed in their complaint, "causing him injuries that led to his death."
Wong had moved to Seattle Pacific University from California.
"Like others in her vehicle and nearby, she had no warning that the tower crane would collapse," her parents claimed in their complaint. "She had no chance of avoiding injury or death."