$1.2MMachinery malfunction causing crush injuries to both hands

Our client was clearing a jam from a hydraulic press at a stamping plant when the ram cycled without a command. Both hands were caught at the die. He lost three fingers on the right hand and underwent five reconstructive procedures on the left.

The plant’s position was that he had reached into the die area without locking out the machine, and that the injury was therefore his own doing.

We pursued the press manufacturer and the maintenance contractor rather than the employer, whose liability was limited to the compensation claim.

Service records showed the two-hand control had been bypassed during a retrofit eight months earlier, and that the light curtain had been muted to keep line speed up. The manufacturer’s own service bulletin, issued two years before, had warned against exactly that configuration.

The manufacturer and the maintenance contractor resolved the third-party claim for $1.2 million shortly after the retrofit records were produced.

The settlement was coordinated with the workers’ compensation lien so the recovery was not consumed by reimbursement. He has permanent grip limitations and has retrained into a quality inspection role.