A Georgia court ruling means a trucking company will pay the heirs of a worker $5.4 million.
Mack Pitts, who was working as a spotter/flag-man for Archer-Western Contractors at the Atlanta International Airport, was killed in June of 2007 when a fellow employee ran over him with a dump truck. (WCxKit)
According to SafetyNewsAlert.com, Sarah Okoro, a driver for A & G Trucking, positioned her truck to back up without waiting for a signal from Pitts.
Pitts used his flags to provide Okoro with a stop signal and then turned his attention to another driver. Okoro ignored the signal and started backing up.
Other trucks reportedly sounded their horns to let Okoro know that Pitts was behind her truck, but she continued to back up.
By the time Pitts realized Okoros truck was coming in his direction, it was too late. The truck hit him, and Pitts died from his injuries.
Pitts heirs sued A & G Trucking for negligence.
At trial, testimony concluded that Okoro violated a number of safety rules immediately before hitting Pitts, including:
1. entering the area before being signaled to do so by a spotter
2. failing to remain still after the spotter directed her to stop
3. backing up without receiving a signal to do so by the spotter, and
4. backing up without locating the spotter.
The trial court awarded Pitts’ heirs $5.4 million. The company appealed.
A & G claimed that the trial court should have prohibited cross-examination of Okoro regarding her employment application. Okoro testified that she had no experience operating dump trucks prior to her employment by A & G.
According to additional testimony, an employment application entered into evidence claimed she had prior experience. Okoro stated the application wasn’t in her handwriting.
The company later admitted that Okoros actual application was misplaced and that a manager filled out an application for her as part of a workers compensation audit.
An appeals court stated the trial court did nothing wrong by permitting Okoro to be questioned regarding the application and affirmed the previous verdict. (WCxKit)
The company has again been ordered to pay $5.4 million.
(A & G Trucking v. Pitts, Court of Appeals of GA, No. A10A1096, 11/5/10.)
Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers Compensation costs, including airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. Contact: [email protected] or 860-553-6604.
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