Wayne School To Pay Woman $550K After She Falls From Platform

WAYNE, NJ – A Wayne woman who fell 6 ½ feet off a platform while painting scenery for a play at Passaic County Technical Institute will receive $550,000 from the school for her injuries, according to her attorneys.

The settlement between the school and Deborah Tiedeken was reached during a recent conference before a Passaic County Judge, according to the law firm of Javerbaum Wurgaft Hicks Kahn Wikstrom & Sinins, P.C. said.

She sued the school in March 2016 after suffering from fractures that required emergency spinal surgery and claimed the Wayne school was negligent for not installing railings on the platform she fell from before sending her up to paint scenery.

Tiedeken, an artist, was hired as an independent contractor to paint scenery for the play. At the time, the school’s shop teacher and students were building the set, which included a platform that was 6 ½ feet above the stage that was supposed to have a railing around its edge, the law firm said.

While standing on the platform painting the scenery above her head, she accidentally stepped off the edge and fell to the ground, attorneys said.

In its defense, the Wayne-based Vo-Tech school claimed that the platform was not dangerous and that the artist knew that there were no railings on the stage yet went up there to paint regardless, attorneys said.

On Oct. 29, the Passaic County Tech Board approved the settlement and agreed to pay the sum, the firm said.