Nello Construction Co. has found itself in the defendant’s seat after an incident involving a window installation injured the homeowner two years ago. Gerhardt Konig is suing the general contractor from Carnegie, Pa., for negligence that led to his injury when Nello Construction employees had been working on an addition to his home on September 17, 2019.

The incident in question involved the installation of a window on the second floor of the Konig house, which necessitated the use of a “bucket truck/cherry picker piece of equipment to hoist the window … and to aid in installation.” In the civic complaint filed in August 2021, Konig alleges that Nello Construction “had but three workers on site which was inadequate to install the window.” Without enough hands, Konig asserts that the employees of the company asked him to help with the installation.

Konig claims he was injured when, working from “the bucket guiding the window into place, at the direction of the defendant’s employees,” the bucket jolted, pinning Konig’s head against the house. His injuries, as listed in the complaint, include: head trauma, headaches, a concussion, a tear to the outer ear cartilage that required 20 stitches, among other non-specified injuries.

Outlining eight different ways in which Nello was negligent, the complaint includes: “failing to provide enough workers to install the windows without requesting aid from the plaintiff;” asking and allowing Konig to assist in the window installation when the Nello employees knew or should have reasonably known the dangers posed to him; asking and allowing Konig in the bucket truck, failing to protect him while he was on company equipment, not providing protective equipment while he was helping, and operating the equipment “so as to injure the plaintiff.”

As a result of the alleged negligence and subsequent injury, the claim states that Konig “has in the past and may in the future suffer” from physical pain, suffering and inconvenience as well as nervous and emotional tension and anxiety. He also claims that the injuries have and may continue to “limit his normal activities,” that substantial sums of money for medical treatment and care have been and may continue to be incurred; that “his general health, strength and vitality have been impaired;” that he has lost income and may do so in the future—and that all of these “personal injuries and damages are possibly permanent in nature.”

He is asking for “an amount in excess of $35,000, exclusive of costs and interest.”

Konig’s wife, Arielle, is also named as a plaintiff. She is claiming suffering from “loss of her husband’s care, comfort, companionship, consortium, services and society” and also is asking for “an amount in excess of $35,000, exclusive of costs and interest,” separate from her husband.

Stay tuned to [DWM] for updates about this case as it progresses.