February 19, 2014

Mike Worel obtains a $4 million verdict

On January 17, 2014, Mike Worel and Jessica Andrew obtained a $4 million verdict in Mobile County, Alabama against Defendant Kendrick Farms for serious injuries sustained by Gerald Lymon, an employee of the farm who was injured while working with a post-hole digger.  While Mr. Lymon was manually handling the post-hole digger as instructed by his employer, an unguarded pin in the spinning auger bit caught Mr. Lymon?۪s clothing and pulled him into the auger, resulting in a severe degloving injury that required multiple surgeries and caused Mr. Lymon chronic pain, ongoing infection, disfigurement and other injuries. 

After forcing Mr. Lymon through years of contentious litigation and repeatedly denying any wrongdoing, Mr. Lymon?۪s employer was forced on cross-examination to admit to multiple failures that caused Mr. Lymon?۪s injuries.  The employer was forced to admit that his failure to obtain the product instructions manual, failure to install safety shields, and improper instructions to his employees to manually handle the post-hole digger while its auger was spinning (an act expressly warned against in the product manual) were not just negligent, but careless acts.  As a result of Mr. Worel?۪s expert cross-examination of the defendant and his witnesses, the court was compelled to direct a liability verdict against the defendant, and the jury returned a verdict for $4 million in damages.