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Family settles after worker crushed in baler

August 1st, 2007 by Jim Lemonds

The family of a man who died after his skull was crushed in a baler has settled a products liability suit against the baler manufacturer for $1.25 million. (Crigler, et al. v. International Baler Corp.)

Louis Crigler III, 34, worked at Value Village Store in St. Louis County, Mo. On Dec. 17, 2003, Crigler was using a baler to compress clothing. The machine has a flat steel plate, or platen, that moves downward and upward, exerting about 1,200 pounds per square inch of pressure. Crigler was alone in the room operating the machine when his head was caught in between the moving plate and a stationary bridge. According to Dr. Jane Turner, assistant St. Louis medical examiner, Crigler struggled for approximately one minute to escape from the machine before he was killed.

The baler, model STDS-1, was made in 1994.  The manufacturer and designer of the machine was International Baler Corp., a company based in Jacksonville, Fla.

The baler had several unsafe design features. While in the automatic mode, the platen would move upward even while the door was opened. There was no interlock on the loading chamber door that would stop the platen from moving upward when the door was opened. In addition, continuous pressure on a manual control button was not needed to operate the platen.

A products liability lawsuit asserting strict liability and negligence claims was filed against IBC on March 24, 2005 in St. Clair County, Illinois. The case was filed on behalf of Crigler’s minor son, Louis Crigler IV, a resident of East St. Louis, and the man’s mother, Betty Crigler.

St. Louis attorney James P. Lemonds of Simon٠Passanante P.C. represented Crigler’s family.

According to Lemonds, the company’s federal filings, American National Standards Institute (ANSI) regulations, and admissions by a corporate representative and company engineers played a central role in the case. 

In filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company filed 10-K forms from 1991 to 2006 noting that the balers are subject to federal and state regulation. The forms stated, “The Company complies with design requirements and its balers include interlocks to prevent operation while the loading door is open, and also include required printed safety warnings.”

Despite the 10-K assurance, the company did not comply with design requirements, Lemonds said. In a deposition, an IBC engineer admitted that when the baler was in automatic mode, the loading chamber could be opened, the ram could continue rising, and a pinch point was created.

The baler design also ran afoul of ANSI standards, Lemonds alleged.

According to ANSI Standard 245.5.2.2.2, the ram of a baler should stop or return to a rest position if the loading chamber is opened more than a half inch. If a baler doesn’t have a manual pressure button and does have a pinch point, it must have an interlock which prevents the operator from accessing the top of the ram while it is moving upward.

In a deposition, the corporate representative agreed that pinch points are hazards and that if it is impossible to rid a machine of a pinch point, it should have guards to prevent access. The baler did not have a guard to prevent access.

Although interlock technology existed for many years before Crigler’s accident and before the machine was sold to Crigler’s employer, the company did not include the safety feature on the baler.

Lemonds explained that in the automatic mode, IBC got it “half right.” There was an interlock device that stopped the platen from moving downward when the loading door was open. However, the interlock was not wired to stop the platen from moving upward.

“Half the time that this platen was moving, it posed a real danger of crushing or killing someone,” Lemonds said. “It is like a car company making brakes that work only when the car is moving forward but not in reverse. It is a design that was bound to fail.”

In May, Crigler’s family moved to add a punitive damages claim against IBC. Citing the safety standards, 10-K filings and admissions in deposition testimony, the plaintiffs argued that IBC was completely indifferent to safety or acted with a conscious disregard to safety.  On June 27, St. Clair County Circuit Court Judge Robert P. LeChien, granted the request.

At the time of his death, Crigler was making approximately $6.50 an hour. Because of an irregular work history, the wages his family lost due to his death weren’t a significant factor in calculating damages. Because he died in the workplace, there were no medical bills. On July 20, IBC agreed to settle the suit for $1.25 million without admitting liability.
 
 

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