Cavanagh Sorich Law Group partners Tim Cavanagh and Michael Sorich on December 3, 2018, obtained a $5 million settlement for a 32-year-old man who had his hand traumatically amputated by an industrial machine at his place of employment in 2014. The case was set for trial in February 2019 in the Circuit Court of Cook County.
In the settlement, the client reluctantly agreed to keep the name of the case and manufacturer confidential in exchange for the $5 million payment.
Cavanagh Sorich Law Group alleged that the 2007-designed machine violated ANSI standards and did not properly warn or safeguard the blades that amputated the man’s hand. Experts hired by CSLG were prepared to testify at trial that alternative safety devices were available that would have prevented this tragedy. Among those designs were safety mats and interlocking safety platforms that would have disabled the machine when workers were in the area. This technology, that was available at the time of design and manufacture, would have prevented the engagement of the machine when it was erroneously turned on by a coworker.
Cavanagh and Sorich were prepared to call 42 witnesses to testify at trial, and to introduce more than 100 exhibits to prove that the product was unreasonably dangerous.