A man whose arm was severed while he was cleaning food preparation equipment settled his Passaic County suit on April 21 for $2.7 million.

In April 2013, Tulio Martinez-Carassco was on the job at Premio Foods in Hawthorne. Martinez-Carassco's employer, Ronell Management of Roselle Park, was hired to clean the facility's equipment, and he was working on a large mixing and blending machine. The machine included large metal paddles spinning around a large bowl to mix sausage filling, and a discharge door, according to the attorneys involved in the case.

As Martinez-Carassco reached under the bowl with a hose to spray down the discharge door, he slipped, and the hose—and subsequently his hand—became caught by the paddles. His left, nondominant arm was completely severed; when an attempt to surgically reattach it failed, an amputation below the elbow was performed, said David Wikstrom of Javerbaum Wurgaft Hicks Kahn Wikstrom & Sinins in Springfield.