FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The attorneys for a woman injured in a fatal crane collapse that occurred earlier this month in downtown Fort Lauderdale have filed a lawsuit on her behalf, they announced Friday at a news conference.
Gemmalyn Castillo was identified by her lawyers as the victim who will be represented in the case.
Castillo’s attorneys say she was on the way home from work when part of the crane collapsed and fell on the Tesla she was a passenger in -- injuring her, and totaling the vehicle.
According to her lawyers, Castillo was diagnosed with brain and psychological damage, along with significant scarring, following the incident. They also claim it has affected her mental and physical state and affects her daily routine “including a job that she deeply loves.”
Castillo, a mother of four, teaches autistic children at Quiet Waters Elementary in Deerfield Beach and her attorneys don’t know when she will be able to return to work.
“This was not an accident. This was predictable,” her attorney said. “We filed this lawsuit because these people can’t be doing construction on our property without proper safety.”
Her attorneys claim that Castillo was initially stuck inside her vehicle after part of the crane collapsed on her car, but she was eventually able to get out on her own before being treated by paramedics.
They are now filing suit against many of the construction companies involved in the project for their “negligence” on the matter.
“If you’re going to do construction like that, shut the street down so that nobody is dying or suffering from brain damage,” one of Castillo’s attorneys said.
Castillo is seeking damages in excess of $50 million following the incident.
Authorities confirmed that construction workers were in a boom lift along the southbound lanes of the Southeast Third Avenue bridge, near Broward Boulevard, and fell roughly 30 feet down after a crane, on unstable ground, lost a piling it was maneuvering and struck the bucket truck, causing it to crash down onto the pavement.
Officials say one of the workers who was in the blue structure fell with it and died. He was later identified as 27-year-old Jorge De La Torre.
In addition to Castillo, officials said two others sustained minor injuries.
Officials have said that the crane itself didn’t fail, but instead it was the platform holding equipment that fell onto the bridge below at Southeast Third Avenue.
At the center of the construction nightmare is KAST Construction LLC.
OSHA has opened up an investigation into the collapse.
Local 10 News learned that there have been three OSHA inspections over the last year for KAST Construction.
One happened in Sarasota in February of 2023, where employees were exposed to a 129-foot fall hazard. The fine was ultimately $9,844.
In June of 2023 at a Tampa site, “each employee… was not protected from falling by the use of guardrails” and “employees were exposed to fall hazards of approximately 8 feet.” KAST was hit with a $15,625 fine.
Local 10 viewers can watch the news conference here:
Read the court filing here: