Massachusetts Workers' Compensation Lawyer Blog
According to Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, a jury recently found a forklift manufacturer not liable for a 1999 forklift accident in Wayland which resulted in severe injuries to the operator, leaving him with severe disabilities.
The operator was delivering trees to a construction site when he was thrown from the forklift. He was not wearing a seatbelt, but he lived for seven years after the accident. The plaintiff medical expert testified that the operator’s death from a brain hemorrhage was casually related to his spinal cord injury.
The trial stretched over five weeks, and at its conclusion, the jury returned its unanimous verdict on February 12, 2008. Using a single witness, the defense persuaded the jury that operator error caused the accident, not a defect in the forklift or a breach of warranty.
The worker’s own deposition testimony supported the defense’s assertion that it was operator error. Investigators for the Wayland Police Department and the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration corroborated that conclusion.
Worker thrown from forklift rendered quadriplegic, MassLawyersWeekly.com, August 18, 2008
If you have been injured or paralyzed from a forklift or machinery accident, then contact a Massachusetts construction injury attorney. We can evaluate your case during a free legal consultation.
