Chemical manufacturer’s employee injured in 14-foot fall onto ground
Name of mediator: Judge Thomas S. Shadrick (Ret.)
Attorneys for plaintiff: Craig B. Davis, Elliott M. Buckner and Scott Bucci, Richmond
Case summary: The plaintiff had worked for his employer, a chemical manufacturer, for 39 years. The incident occurred when the defendant truck driver drove off from the loading bay while the plaintiff was still loading chemicals into the hopper on top of his hazardous materials trailer. The plaintiff fell onto a safety cage, landed on top of the trailer, and then dropped approximately 14 feet to the ground.
The plaintiff suffered multiple severe injuries, including a brain bleed, followed by multiple strokes that resulted in a traumatic brain injury and complicated compound fractures to the right wrist resulting in four surgeries and bone graft and fusion.
There were significant liability issues related to both the defendant driver’s knowledge of the plaintiff’s presence on top of the truck and plaintiff’s contributory negligence. The personal injury case settled for $2 million. The workers’ compensation claim settled shortly thereafter for a lien reduction of $353,504.41.