Man sues ACF after injuring his hand at work

HUNTINGTON - A Cabell County man has filed a suit against a manufacturing plant in Huntington after his hand was seriously damaged while working at the plant.

Ronald and Phoebe Bush filed a suit May 7 in Cabell Circuit Court, against ACF Industries. Ronald Bush worked as a press operator in the machine shop. One of his duties was changing the die in the machine.

The lawsuit states that in order to change the die, one had to crouch down beside the press and reach up into it in order to release the die. Then a replacement die would be installed.

According to the suit, while Bush was changing the die one day, the machine cycled and caught his right hand, crushing it and pulling his arm from his shoulder.

Bush claims there were several defects on the machine, which caused it to malfunction, including the failure of infrared sensor lights located around the edge of the press, which are supposed to shut down the machine if the beam is interrupted.

According to the suit, employees of ACF knew of the problems the machine was having. Bush also claims he was not trained on that particular machine, so he was unaware of how to properly use it before he was told to work on it.

Ronald and Phoebe Bush, with attorney Larry O. Ford, seek compensation for losses and damages, plus court costs.

The case has been assigned to Judge John Cummings.

Cabell Circuit Court case number 07-C-394