A Gwinnett County jury has awarded $3.56 million to the family of a 24-year-old electrician's apprentice who was killed on a work site in a Cartersville steel mill.

The Sept. 2 verdict came on the eighth day of trial before Gwinnett County State Court Judge Emily Brantley. The jury awarded $3.75 million for the wrongful death of James Edward Lanier Jr. and another $1 million for his pain and suffering. But the jury reduced the award by apportioning 5 percent of the fault to Lanier and 20 percent to his employer, Action Electric Co., together with his supervisor, Michael Harrison. The jury placed 75 percent of the fault with the defendant in the lawsuit, Gerdau Ameristeel U.S. Inc., which owns the mill.

“The way I view the verdict is the jury felt the bulk of this fell on Gerdau,” said plaintiff's attorney Cale Conley of Conley Griggs Partin. “We thought 100 percent of it should have been on Gerdau.” Still, he added, “the family was pleased to see the jury put most of the fault on Gerdau.”