Personal Injury Attorneys / Automobile Accident Lawyer El Paso, Lubbock, San Angelo, Odessa, New Mexico NM TX New Mexico Texas

OUR RESULTS

Feedlot Work Injury
Hand Crushed
$525,000 Net to Client

Our client was working as a laborer in a feed mill in North Texas when the majority of his right hand was amputated by the rollers in a corn flaking machine. The feedlot yard had two feed mills. Our client was employed as an operator of the four corn flaking machines in one of the mills. The corn flaking machines mix the corn with steam prior to feeding steamed corn into rollers for flaking. The rollers often become clogged with rocks which prevent corn from passing between the rollers. When clogged the corn begins to pile up and flow out of the machine onto the floor. Our client was required to shut down the rollers and steam and reach into the machine to remove the rocks. Each of the four flakers has a green on/off switch near the machine for the roller and peg feeder. A ball valve is located at the top of the flaker to turn the steam on or off. A black switch located directly below the roller switch was used to shut off only the peg feeder. For some unexplained reason, a separate set of green on/off switches for the corn flaking machines are located inside a control room adjacent to the area where the flaking machines are located. The employees do not have sight of the corn flakers while operating the switches inside the control room. Our client turned off the rollers and peg feeder using the green switch beside the flaker. He also shut off the steam valve and turned off the black peg feeder switch. Once the machine was stopped and the steam had dissipated, he reached into the roller area to remove the rocks. Suddenly, and without warning, the rollers were turned on while our client’s hand was in the roller area. We sued our client’s employer for failure to properly train it employees and for having faulty equipment that good be energized from two separate sources.