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Nail Gun Lawsuits:
-Millions for Injured Workers
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Puncture Wounds,
Eye Injuries, Brain Damage
Nail Gun Accidents
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Nail Gun Lawsuits: Verdicts in Favor of Injured Workers
Many cases have been brought against nail gun makers over
the years. Juries across the country have been convinced of the
negligence of these companies
in marketing unreasonably dangerous tools. Many of the verdicts
involve serious injuries and awards of millions of dollars, each
year many other cases are settled out of court. Bear in mind
the cases summarized below are a sample and do not guarantee
a similiar result in your case.
Worker hit in Neck: $9.7 Million
Award, later settled for $1.7 Million.
Gagne v. Ralph Pill Elec. Supply Co.
Plaintiffs sued the manufacturer and distributor of the nail
gun and were awarded compensatory damages of $4,700,000.00 and
punitive damages of $5,000,000.00. Plaintiff was injured by a
nail fired by a nail gun. The nail had been fired by a coworker
into a 2 x 4 being used to frame a doorway. The nail penetrated
the 2 x 4, struck a piece of aggregate in a concrete wall, fishhooked
and exited through a 2 x 8, injuring the plaintiff in the neck.
The nail severed the internal carotid artery which caused a cerebral
vascular accident. This traumatically induced stroke resulting
in spastic hemiplegia, expressive and receptive aphasia and a
complex of sympathetic orthopedic and neurologic injuries. Following
the entry of judgment and during the pendency of appeal, Plaintiffs
settled their claim against the manufacturer and distributor
for $1,700,000.00. (Maine 1985)
Brain Damage after Bump-Fire: $9
Million Award
Drabik v. Stanley-Bostitch, Inc.
In May 1987, Leonard Drabik sustained head and brain injuries
from a nail discharged by a pneumatic nailing tool while constructing
a storage shed with another individual named Charles Daniels.
Drabik sued the manufacturer contending that the nailer was negligently
designed and was a defective product. A jury awarded Drabik $1.5
million in actual damages and $7.5 million in punitive damages.
The product at issue was a model N16CT pneumatic nailer manufactured
in September 1984 by appellant Bostitch Division of Textron,
Inc. (Bostitch). The N16CT is a "contact trip" nailer.
The day of the accident, the plaintiff was constructing a side
wall. Drabik was placing a shorter stud between the top plate
and the bottom plate. The stud was the first one in from the
outer edge of the original rectangle. Because the marks were
underneath the top plate, Drabik had to bend down and look underneath
the top plate to line up the stud correctly. Daniels held the
nailer in his right hand with his left hand at his side. After
Drabik lined up the stud, Daniels reached over with the nailer
and bump-fired two nails into the top plate to fasten it to the
shorter stud. It was after Daniels had driven the two nails that
Drabik's head contacted the nailer and the injury occurred. Daniels
testified that immediately before the accident, Drabik had been
looking up underneath the top plate. Daniels bump-fired the two
nails and then Drabik got up and walked away from him. As Daniels
was in the process of returning the nailer to his right side,
he realized that the nailer had gone off a third time, injuring
Drabik. There was no evidence of a manufacturing defect or a
product malfunction. The evidence was clear that Drabik's head
bumped into the contact trip while Daniels' finger was depressing
the trigger, thus actuating the nailer. Plaintiff's and defendants'
experts testified that the nailer had worked exactly as designed.
Hence, the Illinois Supreme Court eventually vacated the award
and the case was remanded for a new trial on the issues of liability
and compensatory damages. (Missouri, 1993)
Gun Fires Multiple Times: $2.876
Million Award
Lakin v. Senco Products, Inc.
John Lakin and Ann Marie Lakin brought an action at law against
defendant Senco Products, Inc. (Senco) seeking economic, noneconomic,
and punitive damages for personal injury and loss of consortium
arising out of allegations of negligent failure to warn and strict
products liability. In 1990, plaintiff John Lakin used an nail
gun to place a single nail into a piece of wood. Standing on
his toes on a makeshift sawhorse platform, Lakin raised the wood
and the SN325 over his head, pressed the firing end of the SN325
against the wood, and activated the trigger. Instead of discharging
only a single nail, the SN325 immediately thereafter discharged
a second nail, which struck part of the first nail, causing the
firing end of the nail gun to recoil into Lakin's face. The gun
then discharged a third nail, which penetrated Lakin's brain.
As a result of his injuries, parts of Lakin's brain had to be
surgically removed. He now suffers from diminished mental and
emotional capacities, his left arm and leg are paralyzed, he
has undergone a radical personality change, and he cannot live
independently. The jury returned a special verdict finding Senco
liable. The jury's award included $2,000,000 in noneconomic damages
to John Lakin and $876,000 in noneconomic damages to Ann Marie
Lakin. The trial court applied a statutory limit the noneconomic
damages award to each plaintiff to $500,000 and then reduced
that amount by the jury's finding that John Lakin had contributed
five percent to his injuries. As a result of the application
of the statutory "cap" on noneconomic damages and the
five-percent reduction for contributory negligence, plaintiffs
each received judgment for $475,000 in noneconomic damages. (Oregon,
1999)
Nail Hits Heel: $295,000 Award
Redding v. Hilti Corp.
Plaintiff, Charles Redding, claimed money damages for physical,
mental and emotional injuries he sustained in a accident on February
12, 1993, when a pneumatic nail gun manufactured by the defendant,
Hilti, self-actuated and drove a nail into the plaintiff's right
heel. The evidence at trial left no doubt that the accident occurred
and that the plaintiff in fact suffered physical, mental and
emotional injury as a result. The facts were disputed as to the
specifics detailing precisely how the Hilti pneumatic nail gun
was actuated at the time in question. The plaintiffs adduced
evidence at trial tending to prove, inter alia, that when the
product left the hands of Hilti, either originally or after inadequate
repairs were made by Hilti: (1) the product was unreasonably
dangerous in construction or composition; and/or (2) the product
was unreasonably dangerous in design; and/or (3) the product
was unreasonably dangerous because of an inadequate warning about
the product had not been provided. After a several days of testimony
and evidentiary presentation, the jury found in favor of plaintiffs,
awarding Charles Redding $250,000 consisting of: (1) $150,000
for future medical expenses; and (2) $100,000 for past, present
and future physical pain, suffering, including physical disability,
impairment, inconvenience, and the effect of his injuries on
the normal pursuits and pleasures of life, and mental anguish.
His wife, Lee Ann, was awarded $45,000 for loss of consortium.
(Louisiana, 1995)
Defective Design: Knee Injury $314,000.00
Award
Baier v. Bostitch
Lawrence Baier, filed an action to recover damages for an
injury to his knee allegedly caused by a defectively designed
pneumatic nailer manufactured by Bostitch, a division of Textron,
Inc. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff and
against Bostitch in the amount of $314,200, which was reduced
by 40% attributable to the plaintiff's fault. The trial court
entered a judgment for $188,500 plus costs for a total of $190,165.82.
The plaintiff was 23 years old and had been working for Park
Construction Company for approximately six months. The plaintiff
testified that his employer, Peter D'Angelo, instructed him on
the proper use of power tools. For each power tool, he was shown
the tool's safety devices and was taught how to operate the tool
and how to turn it on and off. The plaintiff recalled that D'Angelo
told him that if any problems occurred with the pneumatic nailer,
he was to unplug it from its power source before attempting corrective
measures. D'Angelo instructed the plaintiff to take his finger
off the trigger whenever he was not in the act of nailing. At
approximately 10:30 a.m. on the day of the accident, the plaintiff
was using the nailer to place nails in plywood at 8- to 10-inch
intervals. He had been using the nailer for that purpose since
8 o'clock that morning. As the plaintiff was moving along with
the nailer, the air hose attached to the nailer became stuck
and would not slide along. The plaintiff testified that when
he "tried to stand up and free it * * * [t]he gun brushed
my right pant leg and shot a nail into my knee." No one
other than the plaintiff witnessed the accident. The plaintiff
did not know whether he had depressed the finger trigger at the
time of the accident and was not certain whether the nose trigger
was depressed when it brushed against his knee. The plaintiff
testified that he had no reason to believe that there was either
a drop or surge in air pressure at the time of the accident.
He thought that it was necessary to hit the nailer "flat
on the surface" in order to fire a nail. The plaintiff was
taken by ambulance to the hospital emergency room where a 2 1/2
-inch nail was removed from his right knee. Following surgery,
the knee was swollen and the plaintiff suffered scars around
his kneecap. In April 1984, a second arthroscopic surgery was
performed to debride cartilage in the plaintiff's knee. He was
required to walk on crutches for about four weeks following each
surgery. Illinois, 1993.
Eye Injury: $65,000.00 Award
Senco Products, Inc. v. Riley
Jury awarded plaintiff $65,000 in damages against defendants
Senco Products, Inc and Hahn, Inc., manufacturer and distributor
of Senco staple guns, in products liability claim for injuries
sustained by plaintiff Jeff Riley whereby Riley was hit in the
eye by a staple. On December 21, 1977, Riley, during his second
day of employment at Corr-Wood Manufacturing, Inc. was using
a Senco pneumatic staple gun to build wooden boxes. Another employee
was working with Riley and was stapling on the opposite side
of the box. Riley had placed several staples into the box and
was continuing to staple up the side of it when he placed the
gun flat against the box, pulled the trigger, and felt a puff
of air hit his right eye. As he reached up and felt the points
of a staple sticking out of his eye, the staple fell out. After
feeling the staple in his eye and seeing it fall, he laid the
staple gun on the work table and called for help. At this time
Riley also noticed that the guide plate of the staple gun was
open. Riley's co-worker went to get the foreman who took Riley
to the hospital for treatment. Sometime thereafter the co-worker
also noticed that the guide plate of the staple gun was open.
Indiana, 1982.
Hit in heart: $470,000 Award
DuCharme v Star Expansion Co
Plaintiff, a maintenance worker, was killed while securing metal
shelves. Employees at the plant were using powder-actuated stud
drivers to drill fasteners to steel beams. When an employee used
the stud gun on a beam, the fastener went through the beam and
pierced the heart of plaintiff, who was standing on the other
side. plaintiff's widow sued the manufacturer, alleging the driver
was defectively designed and contained inadequate instructions
and warnings. Defendant was the only manufacturer not incorporating
a piston into the gun to prevent fasteners from passing through
walls; it was undisputed that such a piston would have prevented
the plaintiff's death. The jury awarded plaintiff $470,000 but
reduced it to $263,000 after finding plaintiff 44 percent negligent.
Colorado, 1987
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