Jury returns low-six-figure verdict after plaintiff requests over $31 million for traumatically-amputated leg in product liability case involving industrial drilling machine.
04/02/2022Lipe Lyons obtained a very favorable result following a nearly three-week trial in a product liability lawsuit involving an industrial drilling machine. The plaintiff’s leg was traumatically amputated below the knee and she asked the jury to award her over $31 million in damages. Peddinghaus Corporation, the only defendant, was assessed damages totaling just $267,774.25.
Peddinghaus designed and installed an industrial drilling machine at PKM Steel in Salina, Kansas. Plaintiff was operating the machine when her lower left leg was crushed and traumatically amputated by a 27-foot steel angle that exited the machine. She argued the machine was unreasonably dangerous because its safety devices were not installed where they were shown on the installation plans, leaving the area where she was standing at the time of the accident unguarded. After the accident her employer, PKM Steel, moved the safety devices to that location. She further argued Peddinghaus knew she had to work in the area where steel exited the machine because its design required her to walk through the area to perform daily maintenance. She claimed Peddinghaus employees had expressed concern about work in that area yet failed to guard it. She also argued Peddinghaus failed to provide adequate warnings because the machine did not have a flashing light or audible signal that indicated steel was about to exit the machine.
We argued the machine was appropriately guarded and Plaintiff did not need to stand where she was at the time of the accident to do her job. It could not install the safety devices where they were shown on the installation plans because an electric box was in the way. To the extent that additional guarding was needed, PKM Steel had to provide the guarding as the integrator of the manufacturing system. We further argued that Plaintiff was the only person to be injured by the machine during its 11 years of operation. She was a trained operator and knew or should have known not to stand where steel exited the machine while it was running. The warnings on the machine and in the instruction manual told Plaintiff not to stand where she was at the time of the accident. Lastly, we argued that PKM Steel pressured Plaintiff to work unsafely in order to meet production goals.
The jury returned a gross verdict of $5,355,485 but allocated just 5% of the fault to Peddinghaus. It allocated 45% of the fault to Plaintiff and the remaining 50% to PKM Steel.