Consigli Construction Lawsuits: Verdicts, Breaches, and OSHA Record

Consigli Construction Co., the Milford, Massachusetts-based contractor, has faced a range of lawsuits over the past decade, including a roughly $45.5 million personal injury judgment tied to Boston’s Longfellow Bridge, a $2.6 million breach of contract suit over a New York memory care facility, multi-year water damage litigation at 99 Wall Street in Manhattan, subcontractor payment disputes, city safety violations at a Columbia University dorm site, and a pending workers’ compensation appeal. Some matters have been resolved through dismissal, settlement, or judgment; others remain active in state and federal court.

The $45 Million Longfellow Bridge Injury Verdict

The largest judgment linked to Consigli came out of a workplace fall on Boston’s Longfellow Bridge. On May 9, 2014, John Rooney, a 51-year-old mason, fell about five feet through a gap in scaffolding planking and landed on a pile of concrete debris. His safety harness caused his body to hyperextend on impact, severely injuring his neck and back.¹

Rooney sued the project’s general contractor, a joint venture of J.F. White Contracting Co., Skanska AB, and Consigli Construction. He alleged the scaffold gap violated OSHA fall-protection guidelines and that the joint venture failed to inspect and maintain safe work platforms. The defense could not produce documentation of any safety inspections for the project.¹

After a Middlesex Superior Court trial in late July and early August 2021, the jury found the joint venture entirely at fault and awarded Rooney $26.6 million: $1 million for medical expenses, $2.1 million for lost earning capacity, and $23.5 million for pain and suffering. With interest, the final judgment entered on August 5, 2021, totaled approximately $45.5 million. The defense had offered a maximum of $750,000 before trial. Rooney’s injuries required seven surgeries across ten spinal levels and left him with chronic pain, nerve damage, and incontinence.¹

According to a later court filing, the underlying judgment was “eventually resolved post-trial,” though the terms are not public. Rooney preserved the right to pursue a separate claim under Massachusetts consumer protection statutes (Chapter 93A/176D), which proceeded to a bench trial. In January 2026, the trial court issued findings of fact and an order for judgment in that related proceeding.²

The Wartburg Memory Care Breach of Contract Suit

In September 2024, the Berkemeier Living Center, a memory care facility in Mount Vernon, New York, operated by the Wartburg senior living organization, sued Consigli in Westchester Supreme Court. The complaint alleged breach of contract and fraudulent inducement and sought $2.6 million in damages.³

Wartburg claimed Consigli mismanaged the project through inadequate staffing, flawed designs, and slow procurement of electrical equipment. The suit alleged that Consigli unilaterally pushed the completion date from March 2023 to August 2023, saddling the nonprofit with extra finance charges, lost income, and additional insurance premiums. The facility opened on April 30, 2024. A Consigli spokesperson attributed the delays to “permitting and design issues beyond our control,” blaming the City of Mount Vernon and the project architect.³

The dispute was refiled in federal court. Berkemeier Living Center LLC v. Consigli Construction Co., Inc. was docketed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in January 2025 before Judge Kenneth M. Karas. As of June 2026, the case remained active, and a letter regarding settlement was filed on behalf of the plaintiffs on June 10, 2026.⁴

99 Wall Street Water Damage Litigation

Consigli & Associates, LLC (formerly T.G. Nickel & Associates) has been in years of litigation over water damage at a residential building at 99 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan. The dispute involves two 2016 incidents: a July episode in which water intruded from the roof after a subcontractor drilled into an elevator room, and an October episode in which a defective water tank switch installed by a different subcontractor caused leaks across 27 floors.⁵

Building owner 99 Wall Development sued Consigli for breach of contract, negligence, and gross negligence. A parallel insurance coverage fight played out in the Southern District of New York. That court relieved Zurich American Insurance of coverage because Consigli waited four years to report the incidents. Catlin Insurance and Starr Indemnity were also excused under policy exclusions. Harleysville Worcester Insurance was required to continue defending Consigli.⁵

In the underlying state case, the Appellate Division, First Department, ruled in May 2025 that narrowed the claims but kept the core dispute alive. The court dismissed the negligence and gross negligence claims as duplicative of the breach of contract theory. It declined to grant summary judgment to either side on the contract claim, finding unresolved factual questions about which party first breached the agreement, including whether the owner failed to pay for work performed. Consigli’s counterclaims to foreclose on mechanic’s liens also survived.⁶

Subcontractor and Contract Disputes

Consigli has appeared on both sides of subcontractor litigation. In November 2023, Araujo Bros. Plumbing and Heating sued Consigli and a Boston Properties subsidiary in Middlesex County Superior Court over work at 180 Third Avenue in Waltham, Massachusetts. Araujo alleged it was owed $624,570 on a roughly $5 million subcontract and asked the court to place a lien on the property.⁷ The case ended in a judgment of dismissal in May 2024 after service of process was not completed by the court’s deadline.⁸

Separately, Consigli filed suit against General Welding & Fabrication, Inc. and Republic-Franklin Insurance Company in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut in December 2024, asserting a contract-based insurance claim. Consigli voluntarily dismissed that case in March 2025.⁹

An older dispute reached federal court in Maine in 2012, when Maverick Construction Management Services sued Consigli under the Miller Act, a federal statute that protects subcontractors on government projects, over work at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The court stayed the lawsuit and sent the parties to arbitration, finding that litigating and arbitrating at the same time would be “duplicative and risk inconsistent adjudications.” The case was terminated in August 2013.¹⁰

The Kingsley Arms Case Consigli Won

Consigli’s construction management arm prevailed in a breach of contract case brought by a piping subcontractor at the State University of New York at Albany. Kingsley Arms Inc. had contracted to install roughly 920 feet of storm water drainage and sanitary sewage piping. After pipe failures caused flooding in 2013 and 2014, the State University Construction Fund concluded the damage resulted from Kingsley Arms’s failure to follow project specifications and withheld payment for replacement work.¹¹

Kingsley Arms sued Kirchhoff-Consigli Construction Management, LLC. The trial court found the subcontractor had breached in several ways: it spliced a new pipe section into existing pipe rather than replacing the full 20-foot segment as required, it failed to perform leak tests, and it did not submit required inspection reports. The Appellate Division, Third Department, affirmed in June 2019, also upholding the trial court’s decision to discredit the subcontractor’s expert witness for lacking supporting calculations.¹¹

Safety Violations and OSHA Record

Consigli has drawn regulatory scrutiny on worksite safety. During construction of an undergraduate dormitory at Columbia University’s 611 West 112th Street, the New York City Department of Buildings issued five safety violations carrying more than $15,000 in fines. The violations cited missing guardrails, improper material storage, a lack of permanent staircase or scaffold stairs, and performing exterior work on multiple levels simultaneously in a way that risked falling debris. Two partial stop work orders were issued and later rescinded. Consigli was scheduled for a hearing in February 2025 to confirm compliance, at which point fines could be reduced.¹²

OSHA records show 37 inspection entries for Consigli between June 2021 and June 2026, spanning worksites in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and New Hampshire. The inspections were triggered by a mix of planned reviews, complaints, and referrals. Several remain open or incomplete, and the publicly available records do not list specific penalty amounts for those entries.¹³

Pending Workers’ Compensation Appeal

Consigli has an active workers’ compensation appeal in New York. In Becerra v. Consigli Construction Co., Inc., the company appealed a decision by the Workers’ Compensation Board to the Appellate Division, Third Department. In September 2025, the court granted Consigli’s motion for an extension of time to perfect the appeal, setting an October 14, 2025, deadline. Publicly available filings contain only procedural information and do not describe the nature of the underlying injury or the substance of the benefit dispute.¹⁴

1
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. Construction Worker Facing Lifetime of Pain Awarded $26.6 Million
2
MGM Law. Recent Massachusetts Trial Court Decision Highlights Draconian Implications of Chapter 93A/176D Claims
3
Westfair Online. Wartburg Memory Facility Sues Contractor for $2.6M
4
PACER Monitor. Berkemeier Living Center LLC v. Consigli Construction Co., Inc.
5
Insurance Business Magazine. Zurich, Catlin, Starr, Other Insurers Win Wall Street Water Damage Case
6
New York Courts. 99 Wall Development Inc. v. Consigli & Associates LLC
7
Worcester Business Journal. Milford Construction Firm, Boston Developer Sued Over $5M Waltham Contract
8
Trellis Law. Araujo Bros. Plumbing & Heating Inc. vs. Consigli Construction Co. Inc. Et Al
9
PACER Monitor. Consigli Construction Co., Inc. v. General Welding & Fabrication, Inc. Et Al
10
CourtListener. Maverick Construction Management Services Inc. v. Consigli Construction
11
New York Courts. Kingsley Arms Inc. v. Kirchhoff-Consigli Construction Management LLC
12
Columbia Spectator. Columbia Contractor Racks Up Over $15,000 in Safety Violation Fees During Construction of Undergraduate Dorm
13
OSHA. OSHA Establishment Search – Consigli Construction Co.
14
New York Courts. Matter of Becerra v. Consigli Construction Co., Inc.