Appeals Court hears insurance and liability disputes in fatal construction-accident case

The Massachusetts Appeals Court heard argument in Rice and Another v. East Coast Building Materials LLC and Another concerning a 2014 construction accident in which a pallet of sheetrock fell and killed Steven Reese. Liberty Mutual, as subrogee for Suffolk Construction, urged the court to find Mansoor Construction failed to address a visible hazard—delivery of sheetrock near an active work area—contravening OSHA standards and the contract safety plan.

Liberty Mutual counsel Daniel Tai recounted testimony that multiple Mansoor employees observed the delivery and failed to secure the excavation or warn workers, pointed to recorded statements and an OSHA citation, and described a settlement history culminating in a $12,000,000 resolution with reserves and claim notes indicating that Travelers believed Mansoor owed indemnity. "There are many, many regulations... including do not let your workers be under a suspended load," Tai told the panel and asked the court to address the legal consequences of the record evidence.

Mansoor's counsel Andrew McNaught countered that the jury reasonably disbelieved portions of post-incident recorded statements, that the foreman’s live testimony supported the verdict, and that the Hurston/New Boston standard and the jury’s credibility determinations supported affirmance. Travelers’ counsel Brian McDonough focused the panel on whether liability was "reasonably clear" at relevant times and whether the insurer’s damages exposure (internal assessments and a $1 million settlement authority) made later denials unreasonable.

The court heard conflicting arguments about whether the evidence fairly supported Mansoor's verdict and whether insurers’ reserves and internal notes supported a finding of reasonably clear liability exceeding settlement authority. The matter was taken as submitted.