Pa. man whose hand was crushed by printing machine files product liability claim

A Pennsylvania man who claims his right hand was crushed under the weight of a

machine at the printing plant where the plaintiff was working has filed a product liability claim against the manufacturers and distributors of the allegedly defective piece of machinery.

Joseph Lukashunas, of Hazelton, Pa., claims in his lawsuit that he suffered a variety of injuries back on Aug. 27, 2010, when the MEG Flying Paster DLC machine with which he was working entrapped and crushed his right arm.

The complaint, which was filed June 26 at the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas by Philadelphia attorney Peter M. Patton, of the firm Galfand Berger, names as defendants Wisconsin-based Megtec Systems Inc., as well as New Hampshire-based Goss International Americas Inc. and Souderton, Pa.-based Bearings and Drives Unlimited.

The lawsuit claims that while working with the printing machine during the course of his employment two summers ago, the product caught and trapped Lukashunas’ arm and hand, causing him to sustain injuries to his skin, bones, muscles, flesh, nerves, tendons and other tissues.

The plaintiff had to undergo what the lawsuit calls “extensive” medical care and treatment as a result of the incident, including skin grafting procedures.

The suit claims that Lukashunas has in the past, and will continue in the future to suffer from scarring, deformity, pain, humiliation, embarrassment, disfigurement, loss of well being and severe restrictions on his ability to engage in normal activities and an inability to pursue and enjoy the “normal ordinary features of life.”

Lukashunas has also had to undergo rehabilitative care following the medical procedures to treat his injuries.

The lawsuit accuses the defendants of negligence for failing to adequately warn of the dangers of the product, failing to provide adequate instructions, failing to use reasonable care in the design and manufacture of the product, and failing to warn the plaintiff of the dangerous and defective nature of the MEG Flying Paster DLC Machine.

The suit also contains a count of strict liability in which the plaintiffs – Lukashunas’ wife, Jennifer Lukashunas, is a co-plaintiff – accuse the defendants of selling a defective product.

The machine, the lawsuit claims, was defective when it left the control of the defendants because it was not safe for its reasonably foreseeable and intended use.

The suit also contains a count of breach of warranties as well as a loss of consortium count on the part of Jennifer Lukashunas in which the spouse says the incident has caused her to be deprived of the companionship of her husband.

For each of the eight counts listed in the lawsuit, the plaintiffs seek judgment in excess of $50,000, plus interest and litigation costs.

The plaintiffs are demanding a jury trial.

 

The case ID number is 120603399.