The family of a window washer who fell to his death from the 12th floor of an affordable housing high-rise in downtown San Diego has filed a wrongful death suit targeting several construction companies and Father Joe’s Villages, which owns the building.
The civil suit alleges that a stopper at the end of a monorail track was missing, and without that part, there was nothing to prevent the single-person bucket Edi Canedo, 37, was in from rolling off the end of the track.
Canedo plunged 120 feet shortly before noon Jan. 16. He died at the scene.
The suit was filed last month in San Diego Superior Court on behalf of his children, ages 12 and 14. The allegations include wrongful death, negligence, product liability and fraud.
The 14-story building, dubbed Saint Teresa of Calcutta Villa, sits adjacent to Father Joe’s Villages’ main campus in East Village, and is designed to provide housing for more than 500 homeless and low-income people.
It was still under construction, two weeks shy of a ribbon cutting, when Canedo fell. The suit points to that ribbon cutting as a factor, alleging the construction work “was rush moved and too quickly” for the Feb. 10. event.
“In their rush to get ready for their ceremony, they cut corners, failed to do inspections, and rushed Edi Canedo up to the 12th floor, where he fell to his death,” said the family’s attorney, Evan Willis.
Deacon Jim Vargas, president and CEO of Father Joe’s declined comment Wednesday, citing the pending litigation. Several companies targeted in the suit did not respond to requests for comment.
On the day of the incident, Canedo was in a bucket hanging from a track attached under the ledge of the 12th floor.
Canedo did not know the stopper was missing, nor could he have seen it was missing. as, the suit alleges.
“Our complaint shows that the failure to include a simple end piece or stop mechanism to the window-washing monorail track caused Mr. Canedo to unavoidably fall from a height that one could not survive,” Willis said.
When Canedo fell, he “suffered pre-death physical injuries, mental anguish, terror, fright, horror, anxiety, and unconsciousness,” the suit alleges.
At least one violation notice issued by CAL/OSHA, which investigates on-the-job injuries and deaths, points to the missing stopper, and said in its absence, the basket rolled of the end of the track.
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