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The family of a Lancaster County man who was killed in a construction site accident has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. The fatal accident occurred in December 2010 at an excavation site at Holtwood Dam, which is the oldest of the three major dams on the lower Susquehanna River.
According to the wrongful death lawsuit, the victim was struck in the head and neck by the boom bucket of an excavator that was being used to dislodge another piece of equipment that was stuck in a muddy ditch.
Reportedly, as the victim was attaching a strap to the equipment that was stuck, the operator of the excavator stood up to talk to him and accidently bumped the joystick on the excavator, causing it to strike the victim. The strike resulting in a “traumatic head and neck injury,” the lawsuit stated, which killed the accident victim at the scene.
The family of the accident victim has named the manufacturer of the excavator, Caterpillar, its distributor and the dam owner as defendants in the wrongful death lawsuit. It alleges that the “negligent and reckless design” of the excavator was the primary cause of the worker’s death.
“Caterpillar is one of the largest manufacturers of this type of equipment and this excavator is dangerous,” an attorney representing the family said in a statement earlier this month. Although, he said the excavator involved in the accident was manufactured in 2006 and he is not sure if it is still on the market.
The family is seeking compensatory and punitive damages in the lawsuit. An exact amount has not been named. The attorney for the family said the lawsuit could help convince Caterpillar to improve the safety of its excavators.
Source: YDR.com, “Family sues Caterpillar, PPL Holtwood for wrongful death,” Rick Lee, Oct. 18, 2012