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$400,000 Recovery in Franklin County for Nerve Damage After Machine Malfunction
Case Summary:
While monitoring a bread stacking conveyor as part of her job, Galfand Berger’s client lifted a safety hood to make an adjustment to the machine’s stacking mechanism. When the safety hood was raised, the entire machine was supposed to stop, and for a moment it did. But as our client reached in to make the adjustment, the machine suddenly and without warning started up, causing her hand to be pinched in the stacking mechanism. The pneumatically controlled stacker continued to press into her hand for several minutes until a maintenance worker was able to disconnect the air line. Once she was freed from the machine, our client went to the hospital.
From that day forward, our client experienced pain in her hand and wrist unlike anything she had felt before. But her x-rays and EMGs were negative, leading the defendant manufacturer to claim she was not really injured. Her doctors disagreed and performed multiple surgeries, but still our client constantly felt pain, numbness, and tingling in her hand that prevented her from working, doing household chores, and playing with her grandchildren.
Galfand Berger attorney Brad Smith, with the help of an expert engineer, was able to show how the machine’s design made it susceptible to malfunctioning the way it had at the time of our client’s injury.
Outcome:
Brad recovered $400,000 for our client, despite the manufacturer claiming she was not really injured and that there was nothing wrong with its machine.