A man injured in a 30-foot fall while building a stage for the NFL Draft in Philadelphia in 2017 has filed a lawsuit seeking compensatory and punitive damages against ESPN, the National Football League and staging company Mountain Productions.
According to John O’Brien and Marian Johns of Forbes, Brian Crowthers allegedly suffered head trauma, broken ribs and a ruptured spleen among a long list of injuries in the fall sustained on April 22, 2017 while building the amphitheater in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The suit alleges that the injuries sustained were due to “improper fall protection and prevention” by Mountain Productions Services.
The suit alleges negligence against the NFL and ESPN for allowing the unsafe working conditions from a company they contracted to build the theater.
"(NFL and ESPN), having owned, controlled, maintained and supervised the property where the project was performed, had a duty to adopt, promulgate and enforce proper, adequate, necessary and appropriate standards, guidelines and procedures for the work performed, training of personnel involved in the work, and safety precautions required for the work,” the claim states.
Crowthers is seeking in excess of $50,000 for each of the four counts in the suit - two against Mountain Productions and one each against the NFL and ESPN.