$1.7 Million Verdict for Man in Industrial Fall

Hill V. All Crane Rental of Alabama | Mobile County, Alabama Circuit Court | CASE NO. 02-CV-2010-901051.00

In 2013, firm partners obtained a $1.7 million jury verdict for a client injured when the wire ropes in a man lift suddenly retracted, causing him to fall. The jury awarded $1 million in compensatory damages and $700,000 in punitive damages.

Cunningham Bounds’ client was using a manlift to install an overhead crane at the ThyssenKrupp Plant in Calvert, Alabama. While he was in the basket of the manlift and nearly 80 feet in the air, the wire ropes in the manlift catastrophically failed. The wire rope failure caused the boom of the manlift to suddenly retract, causing him to fall nearly 20 feet. Suspended 60 feet in the air, injured, unable to move, and trapped in the manlift, it took rescue crews 45 minutes to get him safely to the ground.