Clay Olson was a roofer who was supposed to install roofing at the University of Nebraska at Omaha Fine Arts Building. Hawkins was the general contractor on this job. While attempting to ascend to the roof, Olson fell from the scaffolding, and after he fell 15 feet, his pelvis was impaled on a scaffold pole. He suffered severe, disabling injury, and his medical bills alone were almost $70,000. According to his court complaint, Hawkins failed to properly and adequately supervise the construction of the scaffold.

Hawkins was the general contractor on a roofing job at Benson High School in Omaha, Nebraska. Hawkins attempted to bridge two sections of the roof with a steel ramp. But Elmer Hardesty slipped on the ramp and suffered painful back injuries. Hardesty incurred medical expenses of almost $18,000. His complaint charged that Hawkins:

Hawkins was the general contractor on the construction of the water plant in Ashland, Nebraska. During that work, Hawkins cut a hole in the roof of the plant. Charles Harrison, a 50-year-old roofer, fell through the hole, and suffered permanent injuries. His medical bills were almost $7,000. His court complaint charged that Hawkins:

Russell McClarnon and a Hawkins supervisor were carrying a 150 pound piece of plywood at a job site. But the supervisor was drunk, and dropped his end of the plywood. The plywood then struck McClarnon in the nose and face. He suffered severe and permanent injuries, and his medical bills

In the following case a Hawkins customer, the City of Omaha was sued on a case where a member of the public was injured while walking near the Hawkins job site. In other cases, Hawkins’ negligence is blamed for traffic accidents near a Hawkins job and on Omaha’s streets.

Hawkins was working on a construction job for the City of Omaha Police Plaza. When Darlene Nisly was walking by the site, she tripped over a high spot in the paving and fell. She tore the rotator cup in her shoulder and suffered other injuries. She sued Hawkins, charging that Hawkins negligently had failed to warn of the danger posed by the irregular paving, and failed to provide a safe path through the site. Just as importantly, she sued the City of Omaha, who was Hawkins’ construction customer, for the same failures.

In these two cases, Hawkins was performing work on Interstate 480, and had piled huge mounds of topsoil to the side of the Interstate. But it rained that summer, and large amounts of water and earth spilled onto the highway. In August, Jeffery Gearhart was driving his Suzuki motorcycle along I-480, when he hit this accumulation of water and mud. His cycle slid out of control, and he suffered injuries. But Hawkins did not correct this problem. So, the next month, Gordon Peterson came driving along I-480, this time on an older model Suzuki. He also skidded through the water and mud, and also crashed, suffering severe back injuries.

Here are two court cases involving traffic accidents. While these cases may seem unimportant at first glance, the injured parties in similar cases have sued the customer of the construction company that was involved in the accident.

Brigitte Smart was driving her Toyota Camry near downtown Omaha, when a Hawkins truck forced her off of the road, into a parked car. Smart suffered back injuries.

Rhonda Wesley was driving through south Omaha, when a Hawkins truck rear ended her car. Her medical expenses for her permanent and painful back injuries, totaled over $35,500.

alone exceeded $12,000. His suit charged that Hawkins was liable for the gross and negligent actions of their supervisor.

Hawkins won the contract to remove the 24th Street train viaduct in south Omaha. But when Hawkins tried to lift up the viaduct with three cranes, the structure fell to pieces, scattering heavy iron and concrete chunks like an explosion. A piece of iron struck Alvin Mauer, a Hawkins supervisor. He suffered severe and disfiguring injuries, and his right arm is virtually useless. The suit charged the defendants in this case, which included Hawkins, with failing to properly review the engineering information necessary to perform a safe removal of the viaduct. Union Pacific, the city of Omaha, and the State of Nebraska were also sued. This case illustrates an important reason why construction customers must be concerned about litigation. If the contractor makes a mistake and workers or members of the public are injured, the construction customer is still liable. In this case, Union Pacific eventually filed a cross-complaint against Hawkins in November, 1999. The complaint charged the Hawkins was obligated to indemnify Union Pacific against any claims and damages

Boys Town, a pastoral campus west of Omaha, has been taking care of wayward boys for most of this century. It was memorialized in a 1930’s movie starring Spencer Tracy, and by its logo: one boy carrying a younger lad over his shoulder, exclaiming, "He ain’t heavy father, he’s my brother." But this court case indicates that Hawkins Construction lacked respect for the Boys Town mission.

The problems began when Hawkins started its highway job near Boys Town, on Dodge Street. When the March rains came, "substantial and extraordinary amounts of silt" and mud flowed from the exposed grounds of the construction site, onto the Boys Town campus, and into Father Flanagan’s Lake. These sediment deposits damaged the lake and surrounding property. Father Flanagan’s representatives immediately notified Hawkins of the problems on several occasions. But Hawkins did not take the necessary preventative measures, including erecting and maintaining silt fences, siltation basins, and by seeding promptly the exposed dirt slopes at the construction site.

Father Flanagan sued Hawkins for over $102,000, for the costs of inspecting and then dredging the silt from the lake. This is one of four court cases that charge Hawkins with causing property damages by failing to control run-off and erosion at their construction sites. Hawkins had a run-in with another of Omaha’s Catholic icons in the next case, this one involving Creighton University.

Both Hawkins, and their customer, Creighton University, were sued in this case. Creighton had hired Hawkins to work on a retaining wall that bordered the Creighton Campus. But in the course of removing the old wall, Hawkins so weakened the remaining walls, that a rainstorm caused a remaining wall to collapse against an apartment house, causing over $90,000 in damages. The suit charged that Hawkins was negligent for the following reason:

"Hawkins failed to properly supervise the capping of sewer line, failed to properly supervise the construction of the parking garage, and poured concrete in such large quantities that they should have been aware that the sewer line was not capped."