Client Results

Nearly nine years after Oscar Antonio Cabrera was thrown to his death by a Metromover train while working to build a Brightline terminal, a Miami-Dade jury returned a $6 million verdict to his widow.

Shortly after midnight on Feb. 8, 2017, Cabrera was instructed by his foreman at Baker Concrete Construction to get in an aerial lift over the construction site at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. Metromover Station. Cabrera was part of a Baker crew subcontracted by Suffolk Construction Co. working to build the downtown Miami Brightline terminal that opened in 2018.

While suspended in the air, a Metromover train operated by Miami-Dade Transit came barreling down the tracks, striking the arm of the lift Cabrera was in and sending him Zying out of the basket, to the ground.

He was 43 years old.

Gregory Deutch, partner at Rubenstein Law and attorney for widow Stephanie Cabrera, said Cabrera’s death was the result of a breakdown in protocol from Miami-Dade County, which employed both the monitor tasked with clearing the crews for work at the construction site and the Metromover operator running the unmanned trains from a remote command center.

The monitor and the command center were supposed to be in communication to ensure that no trains were running while construction workers were within 30 feet of the tracks.

A crewmember who witnessed Cabrera’s fatal fall testified to hearing a haunting statement from the on-site monitor: “Oh my God, they told me it was clear.”

“We took that to mean the central command,” Deutch said.

The monitor testified that he failed to clear the crew to start working that night, which was the cornerstone of Miami-Dade’s case.

“The county’s argument in closing was this was essentially a conspiracy where, between the time the crash occurred and the time the police and first responders arrived, Suffolk and Baker got together and decided to blame the monitor instead of taking responsibility,” said Deutch, who tried the case alongside Rubenstein Law Senior Partner Raul E. Garcia Jr.

Assistant Miami-Dade County Attorney Richard D. Schevis said he could not comment on the case as the county is considering appealing the verdict.

Jurors found the county 70% responsible for Cabrera’s death and left 30% of the blame at the construction companies’ feet, after learning that they failed to provide Cabrera with a two-way communication device while up in the lift.

Deutch said that wouldn’t have made a difference.

“Regardless of whether there was a radio with our client, if the ‘go-ahead’ had never been approved to start work, then he would’ve been up in the lift anyway,” he said.

By the time the verdict came down, Stephanie Cabrera had already entered settlements with Brightline Trains LLC, Baker Concrete Construction Inc. and Suffolk Construction Company Inc.

Lawrence E. Burkhalter, partner at Weinberg, Wheeler, Hudgins, Gunn & Dial and attorney for the construction companies, did not return a request for comment. A spokesperson for Brightline Trains LLC, which a joint investigation by the Miami Herald and WLRN Public Radio found has been involved in over 180 deaths, also did not return a request for comment.

Now, Deutch is working to ensure his client sees the full $4.2 million the jury said the county owes her.

Because current sovereign immunity caps limit government payouts to $200,000 per individual, Deutch said that may mean taking a trip to Tallahassee to push a claims bill through the Florida Legislature, or using a carveout in the law to get the money through insurance.

“We’re trying to explore every avenue to recover for our client,” he said.

In the meantime, the jury’s verdict provided a cathartic moment for the woman who lost her husband of 20 years.

“This is an immense relief off of her shoulders,” Deutch said. “It’s just closure for her in a lot of ways.”

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jose M. Rodriguez presided over the six-day trial, which Deutch said will be his last before retiring from the bench at the end of this year.