Alabama Jury Awards $500,000 to Foundry Worker Burned Stepping Over Molten Metal Trough, Later Reversed
After trial: The Supreme Court of Alabama reversed on June 29, 2018 and rendered judgment for DISA, holding there was no substantial evidence DISA owed a duty to install guardrails. The $500,000 verdict did not stand and no payment was made on it as far as we could confirm.
Won by Beasley Allen.
An Alabama jury awarded Gregory Bell $500,000 in compensatory damages against equipment supplier DISA Industries after he was burned when his boot dipped into molten metal at Union Foundry in 2010. Bell underwent four surgeries, including toe amputations, and spent 30 days hospitalized. Judgment was entered on the verdict on August 30, 2016. On June 29, 2018, the Supreme Court of Alabama reversed and rendered judgment for DISA, so the award did not stand.
What happened
On September 28, 2010, Gregory Bell was working a shift at Union Foundry in Alabama when he came back from his lunch break and noticed a torch burning on the far side of a mid-level platform. It needed to be put out. As he stepped over a trough carrying molten metal at roughly 2,500 degrees, he tripped and his boot dipped into the metal.
The boot melted onto his foot. Bell could not get it off at first because the shoelace had knotted, and a coworker had to help him. He was taken to a burn clinic and spent 30 days in the hospital. He went through four surgeries, including the amputation of toes.
Bell sued his employer's equipment suppliers. DISA Industries had contracted to install a new molding system at the foundry, and it had prepared the initial arrangement drawings and supervised the installation of the molding line. Bell's claim was that DISA should have guarded the trough and its work platform, or warned of the danger, since the opening he stepped over was not protected by a guardrail. His wife, Althea, joined the suit with a loss-of-consortium claim. The case also named Union Foundry Company and Duca Manufacturing and Consulting, Inc.
The case was tried to a jury in Calhoun County Circuit Court (CV-12-900465), and judgment on the verdict was entered on August 30, 2016. The jury awarded Bell $500,000 in compensatory damages against DISA. Evan Allen of Beasley Allen represented Bell in the appeal that followed, as the Supreme Court of Alabama's opinion lists him as counsel for the appellee.
DISA appealed, and on June 29, 2018, the Supreme Court of Alabama reversed the judgment and rendered judgment for DISA (No. 1160339). The court found no substantial evidence that DISA owed Bell a duty to install guardrails or warn about the hazard. Its contract limited its supervision to the new molding system, and the court concluded that DISA did not sell, manufacture or design the modified trough and work platform where Bell was hurt. Responsibility for the furnace system modifications, including the trough extension, belonged to Union Foundry under the contract.
Because the court rendered judgment rather than sending the case back for a new trial, the $500,000 verdict did not survive.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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