PHILADELPHIA – A man who claimed to have been permanently blinded and catastrophically injured by a faulty moulding machine at a local lumber facility, withdrew his initial litigation he filed against the manufacturers of the device, in the wake of a second suit currently pending.
On May 17, counsel for plaintiffs Michael Filipovic and Lenore Filipovic filed a praecipe to order their first case discontinued without prejudice. A second was later filed at approximately the same time.
The Filipovics, of Pottstown, initially filed suit in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on April 30, 2018 versus Mikron Woodworking Machinery Ltd. and Valley Sales & Equipment (Renfrew) Ltd. of Renfrew, Ontario, Canada, Charles G.G. Schmidt & Company, Inc. of Montvale, N.J. and Tague Lumber, Inc. of Philadelphia.
Per the litigation, Michael was working at a lumber facility and job site in Phoenixville on July 22, 2016, where a Mikron Tilting Arbor Multi-Moulder was being used, a device which utilized a feed roll system on which the wooden panels were guided through the machine.
The suit said this system, however, becomes worn over time through extended usage of the rollers, which creates dangerous levels of wear that may cause the wooden panels to pass through the machine at excessive speeds.
On July 22, 2016, Michael approached a co-worker’s work station, one who was operating an M645 Tilting Arbor Multi-Moulder and cutting designs into wooden panels, while standing approximately 15 to 20 feet from the machine, the suit said.
At that time, while employee Allen Brodie was shaping wood with the device, a wood board suddenly and without warning shot through the machine, ricocheted off the edge of a bin and struck Michael’s skull near his right eye, the suit said.
As a result, Michael suffered four shattered orbital bones, a severed optical lobe causing non-function and blindness in his right eye, a stay in the intensive care unit at Jefferson Hospital, where he was kept on breathing and feeding tubes, a craniotomy due to massive brain swelling, an ocular drain, emotional, neurological, orthopedic, psychological and psychiatric injuries, plus extreme scarring and disfigurement, the suit said.
“Plaintiff’s past paid medical bills are over $500,000. Defendants are jointly and severally liable for the injuries and damages alleged herein,” the suit stated.
The plaintiffs averred that the accident would not have occurred, if the defendants provided instruction and notice for the replacement of the table feed rollers on the machine, before they became dangerously over-worn, or incorporated safety features to prevent the wearing of those same rollers.
After the plaintiffs’ initial suit was withdrawn, a second was filed on May 15 of last year. It added Applewood Lumber Company of Phoenixville as a defendant and was removed for a time to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Philadelphia, before being remanded to the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, where it remains today.
For counts of negligence, strict liability and loss of consortium, the plaintiffs are seeking damages in excess of $50,000, comprised of compensatory damages, delay damages pursuant to Pa.R.C.P. 238, interest and allowable costs of suit, in addition to a trial by jury.
The plaintiffs are represented by Larry Bendesky, Adam J. Pantano, Scott A. Fellmeth and Robert W. Zimmerman of Saltz Mongeluzzi Barrett & Bendesky, in Philadelphia.
The defendants are represented by Christopher G. Mavros and Theodore M. Schaer of Zarwin Baum DeVito Kaplan Schaer Toddy, also in Philadelphia, plus Anthony J. Rash of Dickie McCamey & Chilcote, in Pittsburgh.
Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas cases 180501174 & 180404695
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com