Live Wire Electrocuted Worker Strap Holding Transformer Gave Way

From the June 16, 2003 Missouri Lawyers Weekly.

The family of an electrical lineman who was electrocuted while installing a new transformer on a utility pole sued an equipment manufacturer for products liability.

The decedent was working with a crew of linemen from City Utilities in Springfield on Dec; 6, 1999. The crew was to replace an old transformer with a new model. The transformer could not be reached using a truck with an extension arm, so the crew used a “transformer gin” as an anchor point for a pulley that would lower the existing transformer to the ground and raise the new one. The gin was held on the pole by a nylon strap, which was bolted onto the gin. The decedent and another crew member climbed the pole, removed the transformer and were in the process of raising the new transformer when the bolts holding the strap gave way. The metal rachet used to tighten the strap got hooked on a support for the cross piece holding two live electrical lines carrying 7,200 volts. The weight of the transformer bent the support arm, which snapped under the strain. The live wires were released, and one struck the decedent, killing him. His family sued Hastings Manufacturing, which manufactured the transformer gin, Century Brass, the foundry that made the part that failed, and Bodycote Lindberg, the company that heat-treated the failed part. They said that the gin failed due to defective design and manufacturing and was inadequate to withstand the foreseeable use.

The parties reached a $6.5 million settlement agreement prior to trial.

Type of Action: Products Liability
Type of Injuries: Death
Special Damages: $1.2 million lost wages
Verdict of Settlement: $6.5 million settlement
Attorney for Plaintiff: Michael Johnson, The Strong-Garner-Bauer