ALLENTOWN – A Pennsylvania man who fell off a ladder on the job, sustained a litany of serious injuries and filed suit against the ladder manufacturer, Home Depot and Lowe’s, has settled his claims.
Wilben Gonzalez of Reading initially filed suit in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on Dec. 30, 2020 versus New Werner Holding Co., Inc. and Werner Co. (doing business as “New Werner Co.”) of Greenville, Home Depot, Inc. (doing business as “The Home Depot”) and Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (doing business as “Lowe’s Home Centers”), both of Philadelphia.
“Prior to Oct. 28, 2019, New Werner Holding and/or Werner designed, manufactured, assembled and/or distributed the subject ladder, a 32-foot aluminum extension ladder. New Werner Holding and/or Werner sold the ladder to Home Depot. The transaction between New Werner Holding and/or Werner and Home Depot took place in Pennsylvania,” the suit stated.
“In the alternative, New Werner Holding and/or Werner sold the ladder to Lowe’s. The transaction between New Werner Holding and/or Werner and Lowe’s took place in Pennsylvania. Prior to Oct. 28, 2019, Home Depot sold the subject ladder to plaintiff in Pennsylvania. Alternatively, prior to Oct. 28, 2019, Lowe’s sold the subject ladder to plaintiff in Pennsylvania.”
Gonzalez later brought the ladder to his job site.
“On or about Oct. 28, 2019, plaintiff ascended the subject ladder to reach a roof at a job site. While the ladder was extended and leaning against the roof, plaintiff began to descend back down the ladder, at which point the top portion of the ladder slid down, retracted and/or telescoped. Due to the sliding/retracting/telescoping, plaintiff fell to the ground, suffering serious injuries. The accident was caused by the negligence of each of the defendants, and plaintiff brings this action to recover against them jointly and severally,” per the suit.
“Solely as a result of the negligence of the defendants, plaintiff was caused to suffer various physical injuries, including but not limited to, contusions of the head and lumbar and thoracic spine, concussion and post-concussion syndrome, post-traumatic headaches, left comminuted displaced fracture of lateral malleolus and intra-articular fracture of posterior malleolus with mild impaction and displacement, left distal fibular and tibial fractures requiring open reduction internal fixation of the distal fibula with a side plate and screws, right hand laceration requiring stitches, strain of the muscles and tendons of the left and right rotator cuff, scarring, disfigurement and injuries to the nerves and nervous system.”
The suit accused the defendants of negligently selling the ladder, despite its alleged defects and providing no warning to customers about same.
On April 1, 2021, the defendants filed to remove the case to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, citing the amount in controversy being likely to exceed the federal court threshold of $75,000 and factual diversity of citizenship between the parties.
It pointed to the Werner defendants being based in Itasca, Ill., the Home Depot defendants being based in Atlanta, Ga. and the Lowe’s defendants being based in Mooresville, N.C., as support for this argument.
Attorneys for Werner filed an answer to the complaint on April 9, 2021, largely denying its allegations and asserting its contents as nothing more than legal conclusions.
The company also put forward 19 separate affirmative defenses against the litigation, among them the following:
• Answering defendants New Werner Holding Co., Inc. and Werner Co. (DE), after preliminary investigation, may not have designed, manufactured, sold, distributed or otherwise placed into the stream of commerce the subject product, and therefore cannot be held liable for any claimed defect in the product, the existence of which is specifically denied.
• The product in question was not the proximate cause of plaintiff’s accident.
• Plaintiff’s claims are barred and/or substantially reduced by the doctrine of comparative fault.
• If any product and/or product component that answering defendants are deemed to have potential liability for caused damage to plaintiff, said allegation being specifically denied, then said product and/or product component was substantially and/or materially altered after it left defendants’ control, thereby relieving answering defendants from liability to plaintiff herein.
Home Depot and Lowe’s filed separate, but similar-in-content answers to the suit on April 19, 2021.
UPDATE
After U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania John M. Gallagher denied the plaintiff’s motion to remand the case to its trial court on Sept. 3, 2021, several more months of litigation followed – until it was reported that the case had been settled, as of May 4. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
“It having been reported that the issues between the parties in the above action have been settled and upon Order of the Court pursuant to the provisions of Rule 41.1(b) of the Local Rules of Civil Procedure of this Court, it is ordered that the above action is dismissed with prejudice, pursuant to the agreement of counsel without costs,” Gallagher said.
The plaintiff was represented by Gerald B. Baldino Jr. of Sacchetta & Baldino, in Media.
The defendants were represented by Michael J. Dunn of the Law Offices of Michael J. Dunn, in Philadelphia.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 5:21-cv-01549
Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas case 201201792
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com