Woman awarded $14.6 million in amputation case

PONTIAC, Apr 10, 2008 (The Pantagraph - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- CILL | news | PowerRating | PR Charts -- A jury awarded a woman $14.6 million in a 2002 highway construction accident that caused the amputation of one of her legs below the knee.

Vermeer Central Illinois, a Eureka-based heavy equipment dealer, will have to pay about $13.4 million for the injuries to Bobbi Jo Craver, a construction flagger run over by a concrete cutter about 5 1/2 years ago along Interstate 55 near Pontiac. Another $1.2 million of the verdict is covered in a prior settlement with the equipment manufacturer, her attorney said.

"I just think it's an important verdict for road construction workers in Central Illinois in that the conditions at the time of the accident were extremely unsafe," said Robert Napleton, Craver's attorney. "And maybe it will send a wakeup call to contractors and others to make safety the highest order of the day."

Calls to Vermeer; Craver's former employer, G.M. Sipes Construction, Rushville; and attorneys from the two companies were not immediately returned. G.M. Sipes also was named in the lawsuit and considered by the jury more responsible for the accident, but will not have to pay damages in the verdict because of how the law is structured, Napleton said.

Napleton said officials with G.M. Sipes used wire to manually hold open a fuel solenoid, making an emergency stop button inoperable. Workers lost control of the concrete cutter, which ran over Craver before it went into traffic and struck a tanker truck.

Napleton said one of Craver's co-workers pounded on the emergency stop button before it struck his client. Vermeer was accused of negligence by not removing the wire holding the solenoid open and not telling G.M. Sipes to stop using the cutter until after fixing an engine problem that had previously caused it to shut down without apparent reason.

Craver's attorney said G.M. Sipes had previously bypassed safety features on other machines as well.

"They had bypassed those things basically to keep the job moving and keep the job running," Napleton said.

Craver is now a stay-at-home mother, but she plans to eventually return to the work force, her attorney said.

Though a jury deemed G.M. Sipes 75 percent responsible for the accident and Vermeer 25 percent responsible, Napleton said Vermeer will have to pay all money not covered by the prior manufacturer's settlement.

He said it seems unfair that Craver's employer is not responsible for the lion's share of legal damages, but the company is responsible for about $200,000 for worker's compensation.

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