Documents and information obtained by the Associated Press and widely covered in recent news reveal that Summit Structures LLC, builder of the collapsed Dallas Cowboys training center, knew in advance of the weakness of the facility and the dangers of collapse. The structural collapse injury attorneys at Denena & Points mention that Summit Structures was a subsidiary of the Canadian company Cover-All Building Systems. Cover-All declared bankruptcy in 2010, likely as a result of the huge liability costs stemming from the 2009 collapse of the Dallas Cowboys training facility.
The Cowboys were holding a rookie training session at the time that the tent-like facility collapsed. 12 people were injured in the collapse. The injuries included a broken neck in special teams coach Joe DeCamillis and a severed spinal cord in Cowboys scout Rich Behm that left him paralyzed from the waist down.
Together the pair received about $34 million in compensation from Cover-All and from entities affiliated with Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones. Our structural collapse injury attorneys emphasize that it goes without saying that no amount of money can ever replace lost mobility, especially in two victims so heavily involved in professional sports.
The Cowboys organization began questioning the structural integrity of the training facility in 2007 shortly after it was built in 2003. The Cowboys wanted their engineering expert informed of measures being taken to correct the structural problems.
Notes from Summit’s legal counsel, which the counsel attributes to comments by Jeff Galland, engineering director for 52 Engineers, a company Summit employed on tits projects, stated that parts of the Dallas facility’s frame were “to slender and long” and “prone to buckling.” The notes also stated that calculations in this regard would be hidden in the analysis given to the Cowboys.
Another statement of Galland’s that the counsel forwarded specifically stated that portions of the facility’s frame were “overstressed.” Our structural collapse injury attorneys point out that even if an overstressed structure can stand for a time under ordinary circumstances, any additional force like storm winds or earth tremors will bring that structure crashing down on top of whomever is inside. And indeed that is what happened. Texas storm winds, not noted for a subtle touch, tore the structure apart quickly.
To our structural collapse injury attorneys, those statements seem tantamount to saying that they knew lives were at risk and they decided to risk them, putting profits ahead of safety. Given the hideous financial that could result (and did in fact result) from a collapse of the Dallas Cowboys training facility, one might think that Summit would chart a more careful course in the structurally troubled waters.
The Associated Press report on this incident and the damning information it found in the obtained documents points out that Jeff Galland, though titled Engineering Director at 52 Engineers, possessed no college degree and had served time in prison on drug and weapons violations.
Generally we’re not ones to hold past mistakes against a person. But those are not the credentials our structural collapse injury attorneys would look for in an engineering director or consultant.
We also note that Summit and Cover-All later announced a design flaw that could lead to collapse in windy and snowy conditions of about 35,000 of its smaller buildings. And the company was apparently known more for structures like barns, equestrian facilities, and warehouse storage buildings than large, high profile sports complexes.
So we wonder why Summit and Cover-All were even hired to build the Dallas Cowboys training facility. And why someone like Jeff Galland was consulted as the engineering authority regarding the facility’s problems with structural integrity. We must credit him with accurate assessments of the facility’s lack of structural integrity, even if he presented no viable solutions to them and Summit endeavored to hide his findings in any case.
The behavior of Summit prior to the collapse in disguising information that could have warned the Cowboys of the impending collapse of the facility seems outrageous. The clear disregard for others’ safety and danger indicated in the documents found by the Associated Press is appalling.
Substandard contractors, roofers, and others bilk ordinary homeowners every day. That someone with the financial clout of Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys organization should suffer the same fate is not the least bit reassuring. The saga of the doomed Dallas Cowboys training facility shows that any structure might have hidden defects and structural weaknesses that visitors and occupants might not know about until it’s too late.
Learn more about the training facility collapse in the linked article by our structural collapse injury attorneys.