Santiago Alvarado, 24, was killed as he fell through the ceiling of a bicycle shop he was burglarizing. Death was caused when the long flashlight he had placed in his mouth to keep his hands free rammed into the base of his skull as he hit the floor.

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In a similar case, the burglar survived and sued the building owner and won. He claimed his act of burglary was not of sufficient harm to the premises to justify the faulty construction.

In a case in New York City, a plumber forcibly removed a plywood cover over a hole in a concrete floor using a hammer and a prybar. He turned around to pick up his hammer and fell into the hole. The building owner was found negligent in not securing the cover so it couldn’t be removed.

In another case in New York City, a laborer on a building was threatened by another laborer with a knife. He picked up a brick and threw it at the man who was threatening him. The masonry contractor was sued on the grounds that he left the brick unsecured and his insurance company settled rather than go to trial, because New York juries are known to be illogical.