Defense Verdict in Philadelphia County

Ricci Tyrrell Johnson & Grey is pleased to announce a victory for the defense, celebrating a unanimous verdict in favor of a Terex Corporation in a products liability and negligence case pending in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. The jury deliberated for just under an hour before returning the defense verdict in favor of Terex Corporation. Fran Grey and Rebecca Leonard were trial counsel, and were assisted by paralegal Malika Royal.

Plaintiff claimed that Terex Corporation was responsible for his catastrophic injuries after he fell 10 to 15 feet from the elevated loader bucket of a 2002 backhoe loader. Plaintiff was instructed to get into the loader bucket by his employer of 40 years, and was elevated by the operator of the machine who was employed at the location where the accident occurred. Plaintiff was not a certified arborist and failed to inspect the tree before cutting the limb. An inspection by plaintiff or anyone on the jobsite would have revealed that the limb was cabeled to the tree trunk. This cabling caused the limb to swing, rather than fall to the ground, and strike the plaintiff knocking him out of the loader bucket.

Plaintiff admitted he never read the Operating Manual nor any decals on the loader backhoe. Despite this plaintiff’s claim was that the warning below would have prevented the plaintiff from getting into and being elevated in the bucket on the date of accident.

Plaintiff was permanently paralyzed, and the non-economic damages and $8 million in economic damages sought by plaintiff were demonstrated to the jury via an image of an iceberg during closing. The defense presented its evidence in a streamlined style, and strategically focused the defense on liability. The defense argued the operator and the plaintiff both understood the risk of injury, that a fall hazard is an open and obvious danger and that a loader backhoe is a piece of excavation equipment and not a manlift, and therefore was not used as intended by the manufacturer.

The jury found that Terex Corporation was not negligent and there was no defect in the warnings provided with or on the loader backhoe. The jury’s verdict is a resounding testimonial of the defense’s message that the accident and plaintiff’s injuries were not the result of any defect in the product. The defense team’s efforts were important in overcoming the challenges of a products liability case in a jurisdiction known for its plaintiff-friendly tendencies, particularly in catastrophic injury cases.