Just days short of two years since the deadly Stemmer Construction Ltd. crane collapse in Kelowna, B.C., which killed five people, a long list of legal suits have landed in B.C. Supreme Court against the contractor, developer Mission Group, plus the crane manufacturer.
The notices of claims are mainly from individuals and businesses impacted by damage done when the crane crashed down while being dismantled. All notice of claims have not been proven in court.
However, Stemmer has also filed a notice of claim against Liebherr-Components Biberach GmbH (operating in Canada as Liebherr-Canada Ltd. selling parts and equipment) alleging the company knew about a defect in the crane that Stemmer had not been told about.
Liebherr-Components, which develops and manufactures components and systems for high-performance drive and control technology, was created in 2012, from the splitting up of Liebherr-Werk Biberach GmbH, also a high performance crane manufacturer.
The crane collapse occurred on July 12, 2021 at a downtown Kelowna highrise at the Bernard Block condo tower site and claimed the lives of four construction workers – Cailen Vilness, Eric and Patrick Stemmer (sons of the construction company owner) and Jared Zook. A fifth man, Brad Zawislak, was killed when the crane cage came crashing down on a neighbouring building where he was working.
In June, Helen Furuya, wife of 43-year-old Zawislak, was the first victim to file a notice of claim of negligence against Stemmer Construction, which operated the crane, as well as two unnamed companies and four unnamed men and a woman claiming negligence.
Zawislak was a senior technologist for Protech Consulting, whose engineering offices were next door to the construction zone.
Furuya’s claim maintains she is deprived of his “love, guidance, care, services, training and financial support” because of her loss.
She is seeking damages and costs for her loss. Shortly after the incident Furuya started a fundraiser to support herself and her two daughters raising $320,000.
The notices of claim filed July 10 and 11 are from neighbours impacted by the collapse.
The Carmel Housing Society is suing for damages to a seniors building while Kelly-Ann Kreutzer is suing over the loss of her beauty salon as the building was deemed unsafe and she was forced to close her business after spending more than $50,000 on renovations. Working at home, she lost customers, she alleges, and is claiming loss of earnings.
Three notices of claim relate to Zawislak’s death.
Protech employee Shelby Miller was narrowly missed by the falling crane operator’s cage, suffering cuts and bruises from debris and trauma from the cab crushing his co-worker.
“(Miller) watched as the ceiling and crane collapsed directly onto his co-worker. (Miller) was left in a state of severe shock as a result of witnessing his co-worker crushed by the collapsing crane and nearly being hit himself,” said his notice of claim against Stemmer and Liebherr-Canada.
He is suing for psychiatric injuries, anxiety, depression and PTSD.
Protech owner Grant Maddock, who has also launched a notice of claim, ran down the hall to check on his employee upon hearing the crash.
He found the operator’s cage resting on the spot where Zawislak had sat. He began removing debris only to discover the cab operator was still alive and with the help of another employee removed the operator and began rendering First-Aid.
Zawislak’s body had been driven through the floor to the legal offices below of lawyer Chris Fraser and was not discovered until two days later in the rubble.
Fraser in his notice of claim said he was working below where Zawislak was sitting.
“(Fraser) was trapped under his desk and had to crawl out from under the rubble to safety,” his claim states, adding when he returned to his office a few days later he found one of Zawislak’s shoes on a desk and there was a “terrible smell of what he believed to be deceased individual.”
Kellie Orsted, a paralegal working in Fraser’s office during the crane crash and who helped remove Fraser from the debris, has also filed a claim.
Earlier, on July 5, Fort George Enterprises and a group of individuals and businesses also filed a notice of claim against Stemmer claiming negligence resulting in a crane crash that impacted them.
WorkSafeBC and the RCMP are both investigating the incident to determine what led to the collapse. WorkSafeBC has finalized its report but is not releasing the findings until the RCMP investigation is finished.
Stemmer Construction is in its notice of claim is saying “the Liebherr Companies were responsible for the design, manufacture, marketing and distribution of the tower crane and its components, including the operators’ manuals.”
The company is alleging “as a result of the negligence and breach of duty of the Liebherr Companies, the tower crane and/or the manuals contained a dangerous defect, which led to the accident.”
Stemmer Construction maintains Liebherr Canada and its parent Swiss-based company Liebherr International knew of the “dangerous defect.”
“The Liebherr Companies failed to warn users of the tower crane, including Stemmer Construction, of the defect, which would have allowed the accident to be avoided,” the notice of claim maintains.
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