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DISCLAIMER: Please note that every case is different and these verdicts and settlements, while accurate, do not represent what we may obtain for you in your case.

Finger injury on industrial machine

Our client worked on a milk carton filling machine at the Turkey Hill Dairy in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The machine unfolded milk cartons, filled them with a beverage, sealed the cartons and delivered them onto a stacking conveyor. The cartons moved along a chain-driven line. The machine would occasionally jam if a carton became misaligned. Workers were able to reach into the machine to clear the jam, which brought their hands close to the chain which drove the line. Our client got his fingers caught in a pinch point created by the moving chain when he cleared a jam. He lost the tip of one of his fingers. He was able to return to work on a full-time basis.

The defendant in this case claimed that a guard which was present on the machine during a post-accident inspection had to have been removed by our client or his employer or co-workers prior to the accident, and that the machine had therefore been altered by the removal of the guard. We were able to prove that the guard was not part of the original design of the machine, but rather had been fabricated at the dairy’s machine shop, after our client was injured.

We were able to settle this case on very favorable terms prior to trial.

Awarded: Confidential