Neighbor's Unguarded Angle Grinder Costs Man His Sight: $5.46 Million Verdict in Gadsden County

On February 13, 2012, James Simmons, a retired resident in his early sixties, went to help his neighbor Larry Collins with a kitchen plumbing project in Quincy, Florida. Collins handed him an electric angle grinder to cut PVC pipe. Moments later the grinding wheel broke apart. A fragment struck Simmons in the face, shattering through his safety glasses and driving into his left eye.

Simmons was rushed for emergency surgery. Physicians documented an orbit fracture, blunt-force trauma, a hematoma, and a detached retina. The surgical intervention could not preserve his vision. He lost all useful sight in that eye, a permanent outcome.

Attorney Jimmy Fasig of what was then Barrett, Fasig and Brooks built the liability case around two concealed dangers. First, Collins had removed the factory safety guard from the grinder, in direct violation of the manufacturer's operating manual, which stated the tool must never be run without one. Second, Collins had witnessed a prior blade on the same grinder break into pieces before this day, yet he said nothing to Simmons before handing it over. An accident reconstruction expert testified at trial that the unguarded condition was the proximate cause of the fragment's trajectory toward Simmons's face.

The defense argued Simmons was responsible because he installed the replacement blade himself. The jury considered that question and returned a verdict of $5,459,008, then allocated 45 percent comparative fault to Simmons. The case proceeded against State Farm under the Collins homeowner's policy, which the insurer had initially declined to honor.

After deliberating roughly three hours, the Gadsden County jury sided with the plaintiff on May 1, 2015. The gross award of $5,459,008 ranked among the larger personal-injury verdicts returned in Florida that year. No appellate reduction of the award has been reported in publicly available records.