Rivas-Reyes v. Crescent Park

$3M Settlement

Date of Settlement: Feb. 18.

Court and Case No.: C.P. Philadelphia No. 180300156.

Type of Action: Personal injury.

Injuries: Leg fractures, nerve damage.

Plaintiffs Counsel: Gerald Baldino, Sacchetta & Baldino, Media; Timothy Daly, Daly & Clemente, Phoenixville.

Defense Counsel: William Cilingin of Naulty, Scaricamazza & McDevitt, Philadelphia.

Comment:

A man who suffered complete fractures of the two long bones in his leg and sustained nerve damage in a collision between two forklifts has agreed to settle his claims against the warehouse owner where the accident occurred for $3 million.

Gerald Baldino of Sacchetta & Baldino, who represented Gaulberto Rivas-Reyes, along with Timothy Daly of Daly & Clemente, secured the settlement with Crescent Park Corp. over allegations that the company failed to properly train its employee about how to properly use a forklift.

The case had been set to come before a jury in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, but was settled in the lead-up to trial. No judge had yet been selected to handle the trial.

Baldino said he believed the defendants were inclined to settle the case because the plaintiffs had established through discovery that the defendant allegedly violated both internal safety policies and U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards. However, he said there appeared to be a coverage dispute, and so there had not been any settlement discussions until three days before jury selection.

According to Rivas-Reyes' pretrial memo, the plaintiff was temporarily working at the direction of his employer, At Work Personnel, in Crescent Park's warehouse shipping facility in Mechanicsburg. The memo said Rivas-Reyes was moving cargo with a forklift, entering an area of the warehouse called the "K-Dock area," when defendant Nesim Tawadrous, a Crescent Park employee, ran the forklift he was driving into Rivas-Reyes. According to the memo, one of the forks on Tawadrous' lift struck Rivas-Reyes about six to eight inches above his knee.

The memo said Tawadrous was driving in the opposite direction as Rivas-Reyes with the forks facing forward. The forks on Tawadrous' forklift, the memo said, had been elevated about 18 inches above floor level. According to the memo, Rivas-Reyes said he hadn't expected that Tawadrous would be driving at him, since forklift drivers are instructed not to drive with the forks facing forward, and that Tawadrous came so quickly he was unable to swerve out of the way.

As a result of the collision, Rivas-Reyes suffered a complete fracture of his left tibia and fibula, and underwent several surgeries, including a bone graft. He subsequently treated with physical therapy, but contended that he continued to suffer from nerve damage, weakness, scarring and loss of range of motion, as well as anxiety and depression.

Rivas-Reyes sued Crescent Park, contending that Tawadrous had been negligent and not been properly trained to use a forklift. The plaintiff also sued the lessor of the forklifts, but eventually discontinued those claims.

The plaintiffs memo said Tawadrous testified that before the accident he was having chest pain and was under emotional pressure since his supervisors were "loading [him] with work."

According to the pretrial memo, plaintiffs liability expert Robert Jasinski concluded the employer failed to properly train operators, and failed to properly identify the potential hazards of traveling through the K-Dock area.

Terry Leslie, Rivas-Reyes' vocational expert, opined that the plaintiff has no post-injury earning capacity, and expert economist Andrew Verzilli said Rivas-Reyes suffered an economic loss between $2.7 million and $3.1 million.

In its memo, Crescent Park contended that Rivas-Reyes had not been allowed into the K- Dock area, and that several days before the collision, Rivas-Reyes had been involved in another collision involving a forklift.

According to Baldino, Rivas-Reyes, who was 28 when the accident occurred, had been working to support his wife and 2-year-old son in Puerto Rico when the accident occurred.

Counsel for the defendants, William Cilingin of Naulty, Scaricamazza & McDevitt, did not return a message seeking comment.

—Max Mitchell, of the Law Weekly