Families of workers killed in Idaho hangar collapse sue construction company

The families of two construction workers who died when an airport hangar collapsed in Idaho are suing several companies involved in the construction. They claim that they recklessly skimped on quality and used unsuitable materials for the construction.

The private hangar at the Boise airport was still under construction when it collapsed in high winds on Jan. 31, killing three people and injuring nine others. The families of Mario Sontay and Mariano Coc filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court earlier this week against Big D Builders, Steel Building Systems, Inland Crane and Speck Steel, seeking unspecified damages.

Sontay, 32, and Coc, 24, had only been working on the hangar for six days when the massive metal structure collapsed. They had been sent to the hangar from another construction site by Big D Builders because the shell of the building was supposed to be completed by the end of January, according to the lawsuit, and the contract deadline was approaching.

Even in the days before the collapse, possible construction defects were apparent: Some subcontractors on site reported that the metal beams that made up the building’s skeleton appeared to be warped or not properly supported.

“Many subcontractors criticized the rushed schedule,” wrote Enrique Serna and Jane Gordon, the families’ attorneys, in the lawsuit. “They spoke of ‘shortcuts,’ reported ‘bent beams,’ broken cables, and missing cross, flange and cable bracing.”

Big D Builders of Meridian, Idaho, declined to comment on the lawsuit. Both Inland Crane of Boise and Steel Building Systems of Emmett, Idaho, expressed condolences to the victims’ families in written statements.

“While we mourn the loss of our partners, friends and colleagues, all evidence shows that Inland Crane and our employees are not to blame for this tragedy,” Inland Crane wrote.

“Family is at the core of who we are at Steel Building Systems,” Andy Speck, co-owner of SBS and Speck Steel, wrote in an email. “Our deepest condolences go out to the victims and their families. We cannot comment on most of the complaints filed because SBS was not the builder of the metal building, nor did it have or demonstrate authority on the site.”

On the day of the collapse, Sontay and Coc were installing bolts to secure the building’s rafters while standing on a passenger lift that lifted them 12.19 meters above the ground. Strong winds were blowing at the airport, with speeds ranging between 40 and 56 kilometers per hour.

At around 5 p.m., witnesses heard bangs and a loud roar. Some workers in the building were able to get to safety, but others were trapped.

The elevator Coc and Sontay were in was struck by a falling rafter and slammed into the ground. Coc, who moved to the U.S. from Guatemala in 2020, died instantly. Sontay, also a Guatemalan citizen who came to the U.S. in 2021, succumbed to his injuries about five minutes later. Both men were supporting their families in their home countries, according to the lawsuit.

Big D Builders co-owner Craig Durrant, 59, was also in the building when it collapsed and was decapitated.

Serna, the attorney for the Coc and Sontay families, said in a news conference Wednesday that Big D Builders and the other companies were negligent and disregarded worker safety. Big D Builders had one set of building plans that had already been approved by the city of Boise, but instead decided to use a second set of plans from Steel Building Systems that called for about 30% less bracing, the lawsuit says.

The building was also constructed using a combination of purchased prefabricated components and locally manufactured support and structural elements that were not properly designed to support the prefabricated parts, the lawsuit says. The workers’ families claim this all resulted in “serious design and construction defects,” a problem that was exacerbated when the high winds began to hit.

That day, according to the lawsuit, Inland Crane removed three of the four cranes that were on site, but left behind an older model that was used as an assembly aid. It was not designed to withstand high wind speeds and was not properly secured to the structure, the lawsuit says.

“They know better! They know they shouldn’t behave like that. But often they think everything is fine,” Serna said. “I hope these practices don’t continue, because these kinds of practices are killing people. My clients have clearly been killed.”

The Health and Safety at Work Authority is still investigating the collapse and a report on the authority’s findings is expected to be published in the next few weeks.

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Construction litigation