WHEELING – A couple is suing PPG Industries for injuries sustained at its Wetzel County facility.
Axiall LLC and Axiall Corporation were also named as defendants in the suit.
David Gump was a Union Boilermaker 667 member working for F&B Steel Erectors out of union boilermaker local and was directed to the PPG location in Proctor to perform job duties and related tasks, according to a complaint filed Jan. 11 in Wetzel Circuit Court and removed to federal court on Feb. 6.
Gump and his wife, Betty J. Gump, claim on Sept. 22, 2015, David Gump was not an employee of PPG or Axial and was without comparative negligence and/or any other wrongful conduct.
When David Gump arrived for work at the defendant’s Proctor location, he parked his vehicle in the designated parking area and proceeded to walk toward the entrance area when he was stopped by a PPG and/or Axiall supervisor and/pr foreman and directed to unload two five-gallon buckets of sand and an electric coil, according to the suit.
David Gump claims he was directed to carry the buckets and coil through an alternative entrance to the defendants’ facility that he had never before used prior to that date and proceeded forward, carrying the items, when he stepped in a deformation in the asphalt and suffered a substantial trip, twist and fall.
The defendants had prior actual knowledge and notice and/or constructive knowledge and notice of the unsafe and dangerous condition, according to the suit.
The Gumps are seeking compensatory and punitive damages. They are being represented by Ronald W. Zavolta and Jordan M. Laird of Zavolta Law Office.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia case number: 5:17-cv-00017
