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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Shipworker Says Failed ‘Manlift’ Led to Injury

NORFOLK (CN) — A Virginia Beach man claims in court the negligence of the maker of a "manlift" basket used in shipbuilding was the cause of grave injuries he suffered at work.

In a complaint filed in the Virginia Beach Circuit Court, Billy Jo Humphries says he was working on a complex overhaul of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier on April 2, 2014, when the manlift basket he was working from high above the ground suddenly catastrophically failed.

Humphries, "belted inside the basket, fell 20 to 40 feet," according to the April 7 complaint, and when he finally came to rest on the ground, he had sustained "multiple fractures and lacerations to his face, multiple fractures to his spine and multiple fractures to both feet, all of which would have been avoided with proper and reasonable care by Defendants."

Humphries maintains the defendants knew or should have known that the basket was inherently dangerous and that they'd failed to incorporate features to ensure the safety of workers tasked with using it.

He seeks $5 million in damages.

Stephen Swain, attorney for Humphries, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Representatives of defendants JLG Industries Inc., Oshkosh Corporation, United Rentals Inc., United Rentals of Hampton and Mid-Atlantic Coatings Inc. could not be reached for comment.

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