Executive Summary
- OSHA proposed $257,707 in fines against Construction Labor Services for 16 violations.
- The citations follow the deaths of two workers from sewer gas in a Mobile trench.
- A family attorney argues the findings support negligence claims in a wrongful death suit.
- Construction Labor Services claims immunity as a "special employer."
- Co-defendant Irisela Construction faces a potential default judgment for failing to respond.
MOBILE, Ala. — Federal workplace safety regulators have cited an Eight Mile-based company for multiple serious violations following a fatal trench accident, a development that an attorney for one victim’s family argues supports their wrongful death litigation.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) concluded a six-month investigation into the August 11 deaths of Garrett Robertson and Gerver Adalberto Rivas Bargas. According to OSHA findings released this week, the agency determined that the lead contractor, Construction Labor Services, committed 16 serious violations and has proposed a penalty of $257,707. The workers died after succumbing to sewer gas while inside a trench at the Princeton Woods subdivision in west Mobile, where they were performing work on a sewer bypass for the Mobile Area Water and Sewer System.
Stephen Maggio, the attorney representing the family of Rivas Bargas, stated that the federal findings lend "credence" to the allegations of negligence presented in the civil suit. "That doesn’t affect the family’s litigation or position with the court," Maggio told FOX10 News. "Those fines don’t go to the family… But it does, in our opinion, lend credence. And it does give support to the claims of the fact that there was negligence at the work site."
The lawsuit names both Construction Labor Services and Irisela Construction LLC, a Mississippi firm, as defendants. Court documents indicate that Irisela Construction has not responded to the legal filing. Consequently, Maggio has petitioned Mobile County Circuit Judge Jay York to issue a default judgment against the company and Irisela Rivera individually, with a hearing scheduled for next week.
Construction Labor Services has filed a response denying the allegations. The company asserts that it acted as a "special employer" and is therefore immune from the lawsuit under specific legal statutes. An attorney for the company did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the OSHA citations. The company retains the right to contest the OSHA findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
Legal and Regulatory Implications
The intersection of federal safety citations and civil tort litigation highlights the complex liability structures in the construction industry. While OSHA penalties are administrative actions designed to enforce safety standards and deter future violations, the factual findings from such investigations often serve as critical evidentiary leverage in concurrent civil proceedings. In cases involving multiple contractors and subcontractors, determinations of "special employer" status and immunity often hinge on the degree of control and oversight exercised at the job site, legal questions that will likely be central to the adjudication of the pending wrongful death claims.
It is important to note that all defendants in civil and regulatory matters are presumed not liable until proven otherwise in a court of law.
