$900,000 for Injuries Sustained by Worker on Shredding Truck
A 51-year-old employee of a paper shredding truck company recovered $900,000 after the cutting blades of a mobile truck shredded partially amputated his foot in 2015 when he climbed into the hopper to clear a paper jam. The shredder pulled our client’s boot and foot in, severing his toes and mangling his right foot. Read more about this settlement and how Andy Rossetti handled the case for RD.
What happened?
A lawsuit was filed against the manufacturer of the truck alleging that the truck was defective. This was because the hopper should have been guarded in a way that would have prevented employees from gaining access to the hopper. And, which defendant’s employees acknowledged as a hazard. Unbelievably, discovery revealed that as early as 2009, the defendant manufacturer was aware of the danger. Moreover, they began selling an add-on guard. An add-on guard had the ability to retrofit onto the existing truck to prevent worker access to the hopper. They also conceded that the newly designed models all came with this guard. This was the result of several large customers insisting on that feature.
However, the defendant never warned any of the owners of older truck models about the hazard. Or, the availability of retrofit guards. RD hired a product engineer expert who opined that the design of the truck made him defective and dangerous. Moreover, it should have contained a barrier guard to prevent a worker from accessing the hopper.
The conclusion of the $900,000 Settlement
The defense contended that RD’s client was solely responsible for his injuries because he should not have entered the hopper. RD countered that the worker was trained to do it this way and did not really have a meaningful choice without being terminated. He underwent three surgeries, has ongoing phantom limb pain, incurred medical bills and incurred future lost wages as a result of having to give up his CDL trucking license. This settlement came to an end in mid-2018.
