PITTSBURGH – A local man says he has suffered permanent facial and oral injuries after being exposed to a copper-based pesticide being used to spray trees while he was out on a run in Mount Lebanon last year.
Michael Palladino of Pittsburgh filed suit in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on July 26 versus The Davey Tree Expert Company (also known as “Davey Tree”), of Gibsonia.
“On May 24, 2022, at approximately 10:30 a.m., plaintiff Michael Palladino was jogging on a windy morning on Baywood Avenue, approaching its intersection with Cochran Road in Mount Lebanon, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania 15228,” the suit says.
“At that time, defendant Davey Tree’s employee Vanessa was wearing a face shield and gloves while spraying a large pine tree on the corner of Baywood Avenue and Cochran Road with CuPRO 5000, a pesticide classified as a fungicide with the active ingredient of Copper Hydroxide.”
The suit adds the employee Vanessa was “spraying the CuPRO 5000 up into the air in an arch-like trajectory in a manner that caused the wind to carry the fungicide beyond the area of the tree.”
“At that time, plaintiff turned left onto Cochran Road and after taking only a few steps, the wind carried the CuPRO 5000 directly into plaintiff’s face. The label for CuPRO 5000 states that it ‘causes irreversible eye damage, is harmful if swallowed, is harmful if absorbed through skin, is harmful if inhaled, should not be in a person’s eyes, on their clothing, on their skin and anyone exposed to the substance should avoid breathing dust,” the suit states.
“As a direct and proximate result of defendant Davey Tree’s actions, plaintiff Michael Palladino suffered and sustained serious and severe personal injuries, some or all of which may be permanent in nature, as follows: Burning in the eyes, burning of the face, burning of the mouth, dysgeusia, permanent loss of taste, taste disorder, tongue paresthesia, loss of sensation of the tongue, mouth paresthesia and other injuries as may be yet undiscovered and will be revealed in the medical records.”
For multiple counts of negligence/recklessness/willfulness/wantonness, negligence per se and vicarious liability, the plaintiff is seeking actual economic and non-economic damages in an amount to be determined at trial, punitive damages, pre-and post-judgment interest and all such other relief as the Court deems necessary, just and proper.
The plaintiff is represented by Patrick C. Booth, A.J. Patterson and Eric T. Chaffin of Chaffin Luhana, in Pittsburgh.
The defendant has not yet secured legal counsel.
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas case GD-23-009097
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com