WMI Appeals $1.75 Million Lost Lawsuit
In a negligence action, a Georgia jury awarded Terrance Bryant $1.75 million in damages against Waste Management, Inc., for an accident resulting in partial amputation of his right foot. Waste Management has appealed. Below from the appeal you will find the details of the case.
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AFFIRMED
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Joel W. Collins, Jr. and Gray T. Culbreath, both of Collins & Lacy, of Columbia, for appellant.
David A. Fedor and David E. Massey, both of Fedor, Massey, Whitlark & Ballou, of Columbia, for respondent.
FACTS
On July 1, 1994, the City of Columbia Metro Waste Water Treatment Plant (MWWTP) contracted with Chambers Waste Systems of South Carolina, Inc. (Chambers) to haul away grit from waste water and non-degradable solid waste for disposal. The grit and other waste was removed at the plant and deposited into twenty-cubic-yard waste containers supplied by Chambers. When it rained, water would seep into these containers. Because the water was known to leak out after the containers were loaded for hauling, causing potential highway safety problems, Chambers instructed its haulers not to accept containers in which rainwater had accumulated. Instead, MWWTP would dispatch a plant employee to dig a trench in the grit waste and drain the water before hauling.
On the morning of August 14, 1996, Anthony Adams, a driver employed by Chambers, arrived at the plant to pick up and haul a container of grit to the landfill. Adams noticed excess water in the container and walked to the maintenance shop to find someone who could drain it. When he returned to the site where the container was, Adams discovered that the water was still there. He lifted one end of the container about one and a half feet onto his truck to facilitate drainage. Because MWWTP plant employees were responsible for draining such water, Terrence Bryant, a lead operator who had worked at MWWTP for several years, was called to the scene.
Bryant arrived with a shovel and began digging a trench in the grit. As he spoke with Adams, the eleven-ton container slipped off the truck and partially crushed Bryant's left foot. Despite emergency efforts, the front half of his foot was later amputated. As a result, Bryant was hospitalized for several days and missed over eighteen weeks of work. He now has impairment ratings of sixteen per cent to the person, forty per cent to the lower extremity, and fifty-seven per cent to the left foot.
On
February 14, 1997, Bryant commenced this action for negligence against Chambers
and
Adams, among others. On September 28, 1998,
Bryant filed a motion to amend and designate Waste Management as the real party
in interest. The trial court heard and granted the motion on the first day of
trial, October 12. As a result, the court dismissed Chambers and substituted
Waste Management as the party defendant. Adams was dismissed later during trial.
On October 16, the jury returned a verdict for Bryant in the amount of $750,000
actual and $1 million punitive damages. The trial court subsequently reduced the
actual damages by twenty per cent for Bryant's comparative negligence and denied
all post-trial motions.
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