According to documents filed in Whitley County Circuit Court on Monday, the suit claims Japan-based Takeuchi Manufacturing Company and Georgia-based Takeuchi U.S. "caused tortuous injury" through the rubber track loader Darr purchased and claims the companies were negligent because their product was dangerous and did not carry adequate warnings.
The suit also names Brinke Equipment, which sold Darr the track loader in June 2006, and its owner, Richard Brinke, for negligence, along with BrushMonster, LLC, which sold Darr a rotary cutter attachment that Darr was using with his track loader at the time of his death.
The suit claims negligence on Brinke's part for providing "false and/or inaccurate information regarding the rubber track loader's abilities, capabilities and possible uses." It also claims BrushMonster's attachment was "unsafe, not of merchantable quality and unfit for their intended purpose."
Defendants not known by name -- but listed as John Doe III and IV -- are also accused of negligence by manufacturing and/or suppling equipment and/or component parts which malfunctioned and attributed to Darr's death.
The suit claims the track loader's "design defects and/or malfunctioning components were a proximate cause of the plaintiff's injuries and eventual death."
On March 11, 2007, Darr, 53, was operating the track loader near a pond at the back of a neighbor's property when it overturned into the water.
At the time of the attempted rescue, officers said the driver's cab was fully enclosed and the door latches were on the inside. Rescuers broke the track loader's glass window to get inside the cab but were unable to revive Darr when they pulled him onto the bank. Rescuers at the time estimated Darr had been in the water about 15 minutes from the time they arrived on scene.
According to the suit, when the loader became submerged, Darr was unable to exit the operator's compartment "due to, but not limited to, design defects of the rubber track loader and malfunctions of the machine's component parts and safety mechanisms or lack thereof."
Sally Hollen, owner of the property on which Darr was operating the track loader when he died, and the estates of Boyd Hollen and Daisy Hollen, which retain interest in the land, are also named, along with two unknown individuals -- referred to as John Doe I and II -- who were living and owning property on which Darr operated the track loader.
The suit claims the property owners' land was "unreasonably constructed and/or maintained as the ground was not stable." The suit claims a premises liability because the property owners "willfully, maliciously, negligently and carelessly created and/or permitted a dangerous condition, use, structure, activity, and/or nuisance to exist on said property."
The estate of David Darr and his wife, Deanna Darr, are represented by attorneys Jeffrey C. Shipp and Scott A. Best.
The suit seeks attorney's fees and any further relief as the court deems just and proper.
To see more of The Times-Tribune or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.thetimestribune.com/. Copyright (c) 2008, The Times-Tribune, Corbin, Ky. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
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