A Conecuh County, Alabama, jury awarded plaintiff John Dees $774,000 for permanent injuries he suffered while working for Onin Staffing, LLC at Tenax Manufacturing Alabama, LLC. Mr. Dees was injured on a machine manufactured by Tenax SPA, an Italian Company. The jury determined Tenax SPA acted wantonly due to its failure to guard against the machine’s known defect. Tenax SPA designed the machine with an inadequate guard, prohibited by both U.S. and European design standards. Mr. Dees was represented by Beasley Allen attorneys Evan Allen and Kendall Dunson.
While working on the RAM IV machine at Tenax in January 2015, Mr. Dees was feeding netting into the long tubular stretching machine’s system of rollers when his finger was caught. The machine lacked adequate safety guards and safety devices to shut the machine off and otherwise protect workers. Mr. Dees’ finger, left hand and arm–up to his shoulder–were pulled into the machine. Mr. Dees lost partial use of his arm and has been left permanently disfigured following the incident.
“The defendants’ utter disregard for workers’ safety left our client permanently disfigured,” said Allen. “John is a strong young man but because the defendants refused to put in place adequate safety devices and protocols, he will have to endure the consequences of their wanton conduct for the rest of his life. Today’s verdict cannot change the circumstances but can restore some of what was taken from John.”
The case was filed in the Circuit Court of Conecuh County, Alabama, under case number CV-2015-900036.
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