FAYETTEVILLE - A husband and wife are suing their employer over claims inadequate job training resulted in serious injuries, including a crushed leg and a major concussion.
Upshur County couple Amber and Russell Sines filed a lawsuit on March 29 in the Circuit Court of Fayette County against their employer S & N Communications, of North Carolina, West Virginia residents Lee Brown and Billy Casto, and Fayette Construction Co. of West Virginia, citing deliberate exposure, negligence, unsafe workplace and loss of consortium.
The Sines allege while on the job on Dec. 8, 2011, a forklift dropped equipment on Russell, crushing his left leg, ankle and foot and hitting Amber's head, causing her to suffer a major concussion and neck injuries.
The two say the accident happened after their managers, Brown and Casto, asked them to deliver a utility trailer and excavator bucket to S & N in Oak Hill, W. Va., when they reported to work at S & N Communications in Buckhannon.
The couple reminded their managers they had not been trained on such a task, but they were asked to do it anyway after a boom lifting assembly was used to load the equipment onto a flatbed truck, according to the brief.
When the two arrived at the Oak Hill location, a driver improperly attempted to use a forklift to unload the cargo, but the forklift dropped the equipment, crushing Russell and hitting Amber, the suit alleges.
Russell was airlifted to CAMC in Charleston and an ambulance transported Amber to the hospital with a major concussion and severe neck injuries, the petition states.
The Sines are seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages, court costs and attorney's fees, They are being represented in the case by Charleston attorneys Timothy C. Bailey, J. Ryan Stewart, Sandra B. Harrah and J. Burton Hunter.
Fayette County Civil Action No. 13-C-79.
Lawsuit says forklift dropped equipment on S&N Communications workers
