July 7, 2017 — A federal jury has awarded nearly $5 million to a man from Florida who fell off a defective ladder and suffered permanent injuries that left him unable to work.
The lawsuit was filed by Moises Ore, a man from Broward County, Florida who was injured while working at Tire Kingdom Warehouse.
Mr. Ore was seriously injured after falling off a Husky-brand ladder that was purchased from Home Depot. The incident occurred as he was retrieving tires at Tire Kingdom Warehouse, where he was formerly employed as a regional sales manager.
Lawyers accuse Tricam Industries of failing to inspect the ladders before shipping them to Home Depot, punching holes in the wrong places in the fiberglass, and misplacing rivets in unsafe locations.
According to his attorneys, at least one rivet broke under normal conditions:
“The manufacturing defect in this ladder was ticking time bomb in the form of a misplaced rivet at the top of the ladder that was critical to the ladder’s function. The defect led to the fatigue fracture of a rivet where the hinge exists at the top of the ladder.”
Mr. Ore was awarded $425,000 for medical expenses and future care, $2.3 million for lost wages and future earnings, and $2 million in non-economic losses, for a combined payout of $4,725,000.
It is not the first lawsuit against Tricam Industries involving defective rivets on a Husky-brand ladder sold at Home Depot. There have also been several complaints to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
For example, one complaint in 2012 from a 71 year-old man reads: “The method of using a rivet to hold a support arm is unsafe. Rivets don’t have the inherent physical strength to handle the support arm load.”
The lawsuit was filed in February 2014 in the U.S. District Court for Florida (Southern Division) In Re: Ore et al. v. Tricam Industries Inc. et al — Case No. 0:14-cv-60269.
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