Forklift Accident Settlement is $1 Million
2010 Personal Injury Trial Report
66 year-old-man loses foot to amputation resulting from forklift accident injury
The plaintiff was a 66 year old truck driver who had his foot run over by a forklift that was owned and operated by the defendant warehouse company. The plaintiff suffered a de-gloving and crush injury that resulted in a below the knee amputation. He has not been able to return to work.
On the day of the accident, the plaintiff performed a routine pickup of material at the defendant’s facility. The plaintiff backed his truck up to the loading area and the forklift operator, an employee of the defendant, loaded the product onto the plaintiff’s truck. While backing out of the truck, the forklift operator ran over the plaintiff’s left leg. The plaintiff had been standing in the warehouse near his truck and in the path of travel of the forklift.
EMS personnel arrived at the scene shortly following the incident. The plaintiff was transported to the hospital, where doctors amputated the toes on his left foot. Five days later, doctors performed a second surgery, which involved an amputation of the plaintiff’s leg below the knee. The plaintiff underwent three subsequent debridements of the wound and now requires the use of a prosthetic leg.
The plaintiff claimed that the defendant’s employer was responsible for the negligent operation of a forklift and should have been looking where he was going and paying attention to the path of travel of his forklift. The defendant claimed that the plaintiff was also responsible for the accident as he was not paying attention to the movement of the forklift despite the plaintiff’s knowledge that the forklift was going in and out loading his truck and despite the back-up alarm sounding on the forklift.
The case settled during discovery for $1,000,000. As part of the settlement, a worker’s compensation lien of $165,000 was compromised with the worker’s compensation insurer which also agreed to pay an additional $150,000 in lump sum settlement of future obligations.
Lubin & Meyer lawyers represented the plaintiff in this personal injury lawsuit.
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