Man blames GE for work injury

CHARLESTON -- A man is suing an electric company after he was electrocuted on the job.

Darrell Baisden filed a lawsuit March 21 in Kanawha Circuit Court against General Electric Co., alleging the company knew that workplace conditions violated federal and state safety standards.

The lawsuit states Baisden was employed as a switch-gear technician at the facility in Charleston on March 29, 2012. He was sent to a jobsite at the Calgon Carbon Corp., facility in Catlettsburg, Ky., where he was directed to reconnect a breaker to lines coming from a transformer bank, the complaint said.

As he was doing the reconnection, other workers energized the incoming side of the breaker and Baisden was exposed to high-voltage electricity, the complaint states.

Baisden is seeking damages for medical bills, physical injuries, loss of income, loss of value of employment benefits, disability, cost consortium, compensatory damages and punitive and exemplary damages.

He is being represented by Victor S. Woods of the Segal Law Firm. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Tod J. Kaufman.

Kanawha Circuit Court Case No. 14-C-584