Liberty Mutual v. Panelized Structures (Las Vegas, NV).
Tom Novick was run over by a 14,000+ pound Sky-Trak 5028 rough-terrain forklift that was being parked by his supervisor, Floyd Nielsen, who was 74 years old at the time (September 1, 2004) and had retired ten years earlier.
According to David Romanow, of Shook and Stone, Mr. Novick was provided with no safety training by anyone at the defendant's company. There was no communication system in place, no hard hats, no spotter, no site-specific training, no machine-specific training, and no organized plan for unloading.
The injury occurred, according to the plaintiff, when the forklift was placed in reverse and backed over Mr. Novick's foot -- then after Mr. Novick fell, dislocating his knee, the forklift ran over both of Mr. Novick's legs, his abdomen, and his left shoulder, while moving at a rate of less than one mile per hour.
On behalf of the defendant, Eugene L. Wait, of the Wait Law Firm, told the jury that the motions involved in parking a forklift were completely predictable. Moreover, Mr. Novick knew exactly the movements involved in parking the fork lift, because he had seen the same operation performed the prior day. Nothing unexpected occurred, said Mr. Wait, other than Mr. Novick's getting himself between the wheels after the driver had ascertained that Mr. Novick was aware of the vehicle and standing at a safe distance.. Mr. Wait said that here was no risk created to anyone who was watching what they were doing from a safe place. Moreover, Mr. Novick could not have been surprised by the motion of the forklift because its diesel engine was very noisy, said Mr. Wait. Mr. Nielsen did not violate any safety rule.
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