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ARTICLE ID 11647
Plaintiff injured while operating allegedly defective stud gun - Gun discharges during loading - Partial amputation of dominant thumb - Loss of hand function.
Dade
The male plaintiff, in his 20s at the time of injury, alleged
that a stud gun manufactured by the defendant discharged while he
was loading it, causing partial amputation of his thumb. The
plaintiff contended that the gun was equipped with a defectively
manufactured firing pin return spring, resulting in the
accidental discharge.
The plaintiff testified that he was using a stud gun manufactured
by the defendant in the course of his employment as an installer
of fire sprinkler systems. The plaintiff was pushing a metal stud
down the barrel of the gun with a device known as a driver when
the gun discharged, causing the driver to strike the plaintiffs
right thumb, according to his testimony. The plaintiffs engineer
opined that the firing pin return spring of the gun was
defectively manufactured by the defendant.
The plaintiffs orthopedic surgeon and plastic surgeon testified
that the plaintiff sustained a partial amputation of the right
thumb, injury to the joint requiring internal fixation and nerve
damage as a result of the accident. Although the plaintiff
returned to his former employment, his rehabilitation expert
testified that he should not continue in that line of work.
The defendants in-house engineer testified that the firing pin
return spring of the stud gun could not have failed as alleged by
the plaintiff. Even if such failure did occur, it would not have
caused the gun to discharge as alleged, according to this expert.
The defendants rehabilitation expert opined that even though
the plaintiff lost thumb mobility as a result of the accident, he
still possessed an above-average capacity for the job he was
currently performing. The jury found that the product was not
defective.
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