WORKER WHO FELL THROUGH RODIN MUSEUM CEILING RECEIVES $7 MILLION SETTLEMENT

After he fell thirty-eight feet through a glass ceiling that shattered at the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia, engineer Phani Guthula has reached a $7.25 million settlement with defendants in a lawsuit he initiated, according to Julie Shaw in the Philadelphia Inquirer_. Guthula was inspecting the museum’s lighting fixtures when he moved onto a glass area which failed to bear his weight. The museum had recently finished a nine-million-dollar renovation.

Guthula is receiving a $4.75 million settlement from AlliedBarton Security Services, which does security for the building. He will get an additional $2.5 million from the other defendants, including the museum. According to his attorneys, Guthula “suffered femur, hip, pelvic, rib, and elbow fractures and other traumatic injuries,” Shaw writes, and he spent over forty-five days in the hospital.