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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Man Says He Was Crushed At Salvage Shop

NORFOLK (CN) — A Virginia man who only wanted to purchase a pair of axles for his trailer claims in court that shoddy customer service led to his being crushed not once, but twice, by a malfunctioning forklift.

In a complaint filed in the Suffolk County Circuit Court, plaintiff John Gimbert says that on May 22, 2015, he and his father visited the defendant King Fork Diesel Service to purchase a pair of axles.

However, he claims that instead of being offered assistance by the shop's employees, he was instead told he and his dad should use the company's forklift to raise their trailer.

Gimbert claims that at no time were either he or his father told the forklift had a propensity to slip during lifts, and that he therefore though nothing of crawling under a trailer on the site to remove its axles.

According to court documents, the forklift suddenly slipped and dropped the trailer, pinning Gimbert underneath it.

The forklift was raised to allow Gimbert to be freed, but it slipped a second time, crushing him and causing extensive chest injuries, the complaint says.

"He spent several days in the hospital with broken ribs," Stephen Jackson, Gimbert's attorney said. "This was not a scratch."

Gimbert seeks $250,000 in damages.

Representatives of King Fork Diesel Service could not immediately be reached for comment.

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