A 28-year-old man who experienced a disabling back injury at work was awarded over $10 million in damages in a personal injury lawsuit. The accident took place at a recycling plant where the man was delivering some papers that his employer wanted shredded. He suffered work-related injuries when a forklift driver employed by the recycling plant came around a corner in the workplace and moved a very weighty pallet of materials into him.
Workplace injuries maim and even kill many people each year in Pennsylvania and across the country. It is good to see that at least some instances in which the victims get adequate compensation. This will hopefully motivate more employers to take preventative measures to make their premises safer and to enforce safety rules.
In all too many cases, greedy companies are so fixated on the bottom line that they are willing to scrimp on workplace safety measures just to save a few pennies. This is even if the resulting injuries leave an employee or contractor in agonizing paib for life and disabled in ways that prevent them from earning a decent living.
In this case, the jury award included over $2 million for the enormous past and anticipated future medical expenses, around $4 million to compensate for lost lifetime earnings and a total of $3.2 million for combined prior and ongoing pain and suffering. Additionally, the plaintiff was awarded $848,000 for the loss of household services he will never again be able to perform.
The facts in the case showed that the employer never bothered to provide needed training and certification for the forklift driver, who had just recently been hired. The plaintiff has had two prior surgeries but will need more medical procedures and care later.
Source:
The Buffalo News, “Arcade man awarded $10 million for disabling workplace accident” James Staas, Dec. 03, 2013