Family files suit in scaffold collapse

Relatives of Romildo Silva, the 27-year-old laborer who died in an April 3 scaffolding collapse in downtown Boston, filed a lawsuit yesterday saying that the general contractor should be held responsible for his death.

The lawsuit alleges that the contractor, Macomber Builders, had been negligent in ''causing or allowing a dangerous and hazardous condition to exist" at the worksite on Boylston Street and in ''failing to give adequate warnings and proper instruction" to Silva.

The Superior Court suit seeks ''fair monetary value" to compensate for Silva's death, including at least $500,000 in lost wages and punitive damages.

A Brazilian who dreamed of returning to his homeland and of opening a hair salon, Silva lived in Somerville with his wife, his son, and his three cousins.

He had been standing on the construction platform, applying limestone panels to a new 14-story Emerson College dormitory, when a worker pulled out a metal tie that was securing the platform to the building, according to Macomber officials.

The 3-ton platform should have been tied to a crane, but was left to balance atop a mast, more than 100 feet above the street, Macomber said in a report city officials released this week.

The platform toppled to the ground, killing Silva; Robert Beane, 41, a foreman who was also on the platform; and Michael Ty, 28, a doctor who was driving in his Honda on Boylston Street.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the accident.

''I believe it is the company's fault," Edilane Silva, 21, Romildo Silva's wife, said yesterday in a telephone interview. ''They didn't take the right steps to make sure that everyone was trained and capable of handling the equipment."

The report by Macomber says Silva had been trained to work on the scaffold.

The training for Beane and Shawn Armeen, a surviving employee who was believed to have removed the metal tie on the platform, was not discussed, but the report said Beane was ''extremely familiar with all aspects" of the scaffolding system.

''We anticipate that a number of lawsuits will be filed against a number of parties as a result of this tragedy," John D. Macomber, chairman and chief executive of Macomber, a South Boston-based firm, said in a statement yesterday. ''We can't comment further."

''We continue to mourn those who were lost," he added. Work on the site is expected to resume today, he said.

Beane's mother, Ida, declined to discuss whether she would file a lawsuit.

Edilane Silva, who had been planning to return to Brazil with her husband this year, said yesterday that she would remain in the Boston area to pursue the lawsuit.

''I want to go to Brazil because my life now is totally turned upside down," she said. ''But I will stay until this case is resolved because I believe my husband deserves it."

Brian R. Ballou of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com.