According to PR News Wire, a Wilson County jury has awarded $1.6 million in damages to a 23-year-old Samuel C. Rollings for an injury suffered while at work at the Fredonia Cooperative Association. Sam Rollings suffered a devastating personal injury in January 2007 while working in a grain bin, sweeping out corn when he slipped and his right foot and lower leg became caught in the drag chain of the conveyor system designed by Ken Babcock Sales, Inc. Rollings suffered a severe injury to his leg that required an amputation.
Rollings, with the help of a personal injury attorney, filed a lawsuit alleging that Ken Babcock Sales Inc. failed to provide guards to protect workers engaged in required grain removal inside the grain bin and failed to provide proper instructions and warnings to help protect workers. The personal injury lawsuit alleged that the grain conveying system was defective in its design and was unreasonably dangers when it was sold to the plaintiff’s employer.
The defendant argued that the employer was negligent in sending workers into the grain bin while a sweep auger and the grain conveyor were moving and energized. The company maintained that the system designed by the defendant was safe if used consistent with its warnings on the grain bin door, which said not to enter the bin while parts were moving.
The jury disagreed, awarding the plaintiff $1.6 to cover lost wages, lost earnings, medical expenses and future medical care.