In what a plaintiff’s attorney said is the first of several expected suits in connection with the Dec. 19, 2008 collapse of an elevated walkway at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, the widow and estate of Angel Chupin has filed suit in Fulton County Superior Court against the ABG and several contractors involved in the project.

The suit alleges negligence in erecting and bracing the concrete-and-steel “Canopy Walk,” which was under construction when a section collapsed, killing Chupin and injuring 18 other workers. The completed Canopy Walk, just opened last month, offering visitors a 600-foot-long, 40-foot-high vantage to tour and explore the garden and adjacent Storza Wood.

Chupin was working for Southern Decorative Concrete and was on the walkway, spreading concrete being pumped up to the walkway, when the structure buckled and sent him to the ground, said Law & Moran partner E. Michael Moran.

According to the suit, filed Tuesday by Moran and partner Peter A. Law and Joseph J. Berrigan of Savannah, the walkway’s construction did not conform to its plans, leaving too much space between two “shoring towers” and failing to anchor and brace the towers to support the weight of the structure, among other allegations.

Chupin – described as 66 years old in news accounts, but whom Moran said was born in 1948 – left a widow, Eucebia Lopez Carbajal, and 11 children, according to the suit. Moran said Chupin was a veteran of the Mexican Air Force who lived in Cobb County, but that his wife and some younger children remained in Mexico.

Moran said the suit is the first he is aware of resulting from the accident, but that other workers injured in the accident have retained lawyers and are expected to file their own complaints soon.

“I know some are going to be filed very soon, but I don’t know how many,” he said. He said his firm is not handling any of the other suits.

ABG Executive Director Mary Pat Masterson said she had not seen the suit and would not be able to comment.

“But it’s not unexpected,” she said. “We had heard that there might be one or two filed; this is America, after all. We just remain concerned as to the family of Mr. Chupin and the others who were injured in that tragic accident.”

Masterson said the collapse had delayed the opening of the Canopy Walk for about a year, and stressed that the collapse was due to a failure of a temporary shoring system that was only designed to support the structure during construction.

She also said the ABG had dedicated a jonquil garden near the walk as a memorial to Chupin and the others hurt in the collapse.

Inquiries to lawyers for the other defendants – Williams Erection Co., Steelfab Inc., Southeast Access, Shore All Corp., Atlas Piers, Halvorson & Partners, LBYD Inc. and A.B. Chance Co. – were not immediately returned.

Contributor: Greg Land in Litigation | subscribe to rss |   share