A former support manager at the Stroudsburg location of PetSmart is suing two Pennsylvania-based garage door manufacturers over injuries she sustained nearly two years ago while on the job. The workplace accident resulted in several serious injuries to the woman.
The incident took place back on July 27, 2011 when the manager rolled up a commercial garage door produced by the two defendants in order to give construction workers access to the company’s trash collecting area. The lawsuit alleges that while the manager was standing at the door, a torsion spring on the garage door gave out and caused the heavy door to crash down onto her shoulder and force her to the ground.
The suit goes on to allege that the victim lost consciousness during the incident and even went on to suffer from post-traumatic headaches and seizures because of it. It’s also stated in the suit that the victim has lost partial range of motion in her arm, required surgery to replace her fractured shoulder, suffered from mild traumatic brain injury and other neuro-cognitive defects and even suffered severe emotional and mental distress. The plaintiff is seeking compensatory damages of $50,000 in addition to compensation for delay damages and other costs.
Workers’ compensation law is meant to protect employees who are injured on the job without placing fault. This doesn’t, however, always take away a person’s right to bring forth litigation related to their injury if a certain party was recklessly negligent in causing the accident. Unfortunately, this is sometimes a gray area of workplace injury law, so having an experienced lawyer increases a victim’s chances of success substantially. Workers’ compensation law is meant to protect employees, not hinder them from receiving fair compensation.
Source: The Pennsylvania Record, “PetSmart manager sues overhead garage door manufacturer over workplace injury,” Jon Campisi, March 4, 2013