A 2-year-old lawsuit involving a construction injury at the then-developing Mercedes-Benz Stadium took a multimillion-dollar twist recently.
The July 18 death of Sonny Rogers, who suffered a head injury at the stadium site in 2015, changed the nature of the litigation.
“Now the case becomes a wrongful-death complaint,” Keenan Nix, attorney for the Rogers family, said Thursday. “(Sonny) fought hard for three years (after the injury). Our struggle on his behalf continues.”
The lawsuit, which was filed in 2016 in Fulton County State Court, said Rogers was “incapacitated” after scaffolding fell on him and that his medical costs exceeded $4 million.
Nix said Wednesday that amount has grown to more than $10 million.
That’s why Nix said the overall amount the Rogers family will be seeking is “north of $100 million.”
“The greatest cost,” he said, “was the cost of a life.”
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David Dial, the attorney who represents the people and companies who are defendants in the lawsuit, could not be reached for comment.
Rogers, who was 31, was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital after the incident, according to his brother, Abie Rogers. He later spent time at the Shepherd Spinal Center and then was taken to a care facility in Rock Spring in northwest Georgia.
When complications developed, Rogers was taken to a hospital in Chattanooga, Tenn., where he died.
According to the lawsuit, Rogers was among the workers who were told to move a 42-foot tower. They were instructed to use a forklift, rather than “properly dismantling” the tower, which was recommended by the manufacturer and “industry practice,” the lawsuit reads.
Nix said the lawsuit is in the “discovery” process and he expects the defendants’ attorney to try to “cut it short before it gets in front of a jury.”
The lawsuit specifically requests a jury trial. “We will be asking a jury for full and fair compensation.”
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