Relatives of two brothers who died after an articulated boom lift toppled in 2020 in Delaware have been awarded $18.2 million in a wrongful death lawsuit.
Jovan Maldonado-Andino, 23, and Bryan Maldonado-Andino, 22, were in the platform of a Genie Z135/70 articulated boom lift about 120 feet in the air November 2, 2020, in Bethany Beach. They were working on a cellphone antenna atop the Sussex Water Company tower when high winds toppled the lift, which then got tangled in powerlines as it fell.
The men’s employer, Velex Inc., was later cited by the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration for three serious violations.
Vanessa Andino, administratrix for the men’s estates, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against general contractor Nexius Solutions Inc., which hired Velex as a subcontractor; Myndco Inc., a worker training academy; and Sunbelt Rentals Inc., which rented the lift to Velex. Velex had paid worker’s compensation for the deaths and was not part of the suit.
The lawsuit alleged Nexius and Myndoc were negligent in not ensuring the safe use of the lift by allowing it to be operated in high winds and for failing to properly train the men before they operated it.
On April 27, 2026, a Delaware Superior Court jury agreed and awarded the plaintiffs $18,228,409 to be paid by Nexius and Myndco. Sunbelt reached a confidential agreement with the family in March before trial and was dismissed from the case, according to court records.
Nexius argued that as the general contractor it was not responsible for sub Velex nor had it any control over Velex’s employees. Myndco argued it had no oversight duties of the work and no duty to ensure the men were fully trained and certified to operate the lift.
The plaintiffs argued that Nexius had an agreement with Velex that it would oversee safety for its operations and had a policy to not use aerial lifts when winds exceed 20 mph. On the day of the incident, winds were reportedly gusting at 35 to 44 mph, and the max wind threshold for the lift was 28 mph.
The men were hired by Velex on October 19, 2020, and underwent new-hire training by Myndco. However, they began working for Velex at the tower on October 24 without completing aerial lift training, the plaintiffs alleged.
Nexius assigned a remote field service manager instead of an onsite field construction manager to be in charge of safety on the site, according to the suit.
Nexius also had a partnership agreement with Sunbelt to ensure that only properly trained individuals would use Sunbelt equipment, court documents state.
According to court records, the jury award will be distributed to the family as follows:
- Estate of Jovan Maldanado — $4,011,992.50
- Estate of Bryan Maldanado — $3,804,996.05
- Vanessa Andino — $4,750,000
- Joaquin Maldanado — $4,750,000
