Personal Injury Law Firm - Latest News
$1 million recovery for an injury caused by a forklift
Steven E. Goren achieved another $1 million recovery for one of his clients. Goren's client, a delivery truck driver, was helping a forklift operator unload a two ton liquid oxygen tank when the liquid sloshed and the tank rocked forward. The tank then fell onto the driver's hand and pushed him to the ground. If the tank had not caught on the side rail of the truck, the driver would have been killed. As it was, his hand required two surgeries and his back was seriously injured.
The employer of the forklift operator was sued, but the defendants denied liability by claiming the forklift was being operated at the instructions of the driver. The defendants alleged that the back injury, which did not require surgery, was due to long-term degenerative changes in the back and was not disabling.
Goren said the good result required proving the back injury was both serious and related to the trauma of the incident: "We were able to have the driver's doctors agree to testify that, although the x-rays showed the back that was prone to problems, the trauma of the incident was the immediate cause of his injury. We got all of the driver's medical records - going back years - and showed he had never before complained to a doctor about a back problem. We met with his employers (both the one he had at the time of the accident and the one he had before) and they agreed to testify that he had been a hard worker who was able to lift heavy objects on a daily basis."
The case was in litigation for over a year before negotiations began. Only on the eve of trial did the defendants finally decide to meet Goren’s demands.
If you would like to know if you have a case, fill out our simple Free Consultation form. There is no cost and no obligation. We want to help.
