CLARKSBURG – A Marion County woman has settled her lawsuit against Best Buy that alleged she injured her foot while working a pallet jack.
Jennifer N. Parrish agreed to settle her claims for an undisclosed amount, according to a dismissal order entered April 23 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.
Six weeks earlier, she reached settlements with Best Buy’s co-defendants. They were Mountaineer Property Co., E-P Equipment USA Corp. and EP Equipment Co.
Parrish was an employee of Best Buy and was trained by Best Buy to inventory merchandise in the store, according to a complaint filed Nov. 8, 2011, in Monongalia Circuit Court.
Parrish claims her job duties did not include the loading and unloading of merchandise delivery trucks and she was not trained to load or unload trailers using a Model EP 55-II pallet jack.
On Sept. 23, 2010, Parrish was injured when she was ordered to use the pallet jack when she was not trained on it, nor was she familiar with the use of the pallet jack, according to the suit.
Parrish claims her supervisor failed to acknowledge the seriousness of her injury and ignored her request to not work on her injured foot.
Parrish’s supervisor admonished her for not getting the job done and instructed her to continue working on her injured foot, in violation of OSHA workplace standards and practices, according to the suit.
Parrish claims the defendants had actual knowledge of the existence of the specific unsafe working conditions and of the high degree of risk and the strong probability of serious injury or death presented by the unsafe working condition.
A month after the complaint was filed in Monongalia Circuit Court, Best Buy removed the case to federal court on the grounds that the defendants were out-of-state corporations and the amount in controversy exceeded a $75,000 threshold.
Best Buy later filed a third-party complaint against Mountaineer Property, which had built the loading dock area of the Best Buy store.
Representing Parrish was Jeffery L. Robinette of Robinette Legal Group in Morgantown, while Best Buy was represented by Andrew D. Byrd of Mannion & Gray in Charleston.
From the West Virginia Record: Reach John O’Brien at jobrienwv@gmail.com.
