Plaintiff L.R. was a laborer with a carrot processing company. Processing carrots requires that they be washed of dirt and debris before being sent to market. This process was accomplished with large reservoirs that fill with water which is used to clean the carrots. After the carrots are cleaned and reservoir emptied, employees remove the front gate to the reservoir, clean out the remaining dirt and debris, and replace the gate so that the reservoir can be used to clean the next batch of carrots.
On the date of the incident, L.R., working with his co-worker, cleaned out reservoir number nine and replaced its gate to wash the next crop. As the reservoir began to fill, water leaked in the space between its gate, which L.R. attempted to stop by tightening bolts along the gate with a hand operated pneumatic wrench. L.R.’s coworker heard a loud “pop,” followed by the gate detaching from the reservoir and a wave of water.
Sadly, L.R.’s arm became pinned between the failed gate and a nearby bollard which was not included in the original design plan. Preliminary investigations determined that the brackets holding the gate were not properly welded in compliance with the design plans. L.R. retained experts in the fields of mechanical engineering, worker safety, and materials science.
Result
Plaintiff’s recovery included a $1,000,000 insurance policy limits payment by the fabricator of the reservoir system. RLS was also able to maximize L.R.’s recovery by securing the dismissal of the L.R.’s employer’s compliant in intervention, thus eliminating the employer’s lien on the personal injury settlement which was estimated to total approximately $290,000.
