Settlement reached over worker’s roof death in 2008

A roofing company on Thursday agreed to a $500,000 settlement in a lawsuit brought by the family of a worker killed when he fell through Minerva High School’s gym roof.

A Stark County jury was poised to deliberate after two weeks of trial, but Cleveland-based T&F Systems, its insurance company and Ricci Dolph’s family came to an agreement during a break in  closing arguments.

Terms of the settlement were confidential but the attorneys placed the dollar amount on the record before court adjourned.

The case was assigned to Common Pleas Judge Frank Forchione.

Attorneys Allen Schulman and Brian Zimmerman said the “bittersweet” resolution allowed Dolph’s family to put the tragic case behind them.

Dolph, 54, of Canton was working at the school with two other men on Aug. 26, 2008, when a roofing panel broke beneath his feet.

Schulman and Zimmerman asked the jury for $4 million in damages, arguing that T&F Systems “played Russian roulette” with workers’ lives by sending them onto a dangerous roof without safety precautions.

The company denied that it deliberately intended to injure Dolph or acted with the belief that injury or death was substantially certain to occur, said T&F’s attorney, Carolyn Cappel, citing the legal standard in the case.

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Settlement reached over worker’s roof death in 2008