Employee Injured During Forklift Incident Sues Uncle Bills For Damages. Says Uncle Bills Was Negligent.
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By Alric Lindsay
According to a claim filed in the Grand Court, Isaac Lawrence Lewis is suing W.H. Mctaggart & Son (1995) Co. Ltd. (trading as Uncle Bills Home Improvement Centre) for breach of contract and negligence in connection with a forklift accident that occurred near Christmas time in 2023. Lewis is asking the Court to award general and special damages for his injuries and losses.
Background
Based on the claim, Lewis was employed by Uncle Bills as a warehouse assistant.
On December 19, 2023, Lewis was allegedly instructed by an agent and supervisor at Uncle Bills to stack furniture in boxes on the top shelves of the store’s warehouse.
Lewis was reportedly told to stand on a pallet with furniture while his coworker lifted it to the top shelf. Allegedly, while attempting to move the furniture off the pallet and onto the shelving, the wooden pallet suddenly and without warning broke loose and fell away from under Lewis’s feet.
Reportedly, the pallet slapped backwards and hit the forklift, causing Lewis to fall onto the ground together with the boxes of furniture that were on the pallet, piled on top of him, causing serious personal injuries.
Injuries
Regarding his injuries, Lewis reportedly suffered the following:
a) Right distal radius fracture
b) Scapholunate disassociation/perilunate dislocation
c) Traumatic carpal tunnel syndrome
d) Wound infection
e) Delayed/non-union of the radius fracture
f) Callus formation to the fracture site
g) Right-sided facial injuries
h) Loss of mobility and function of the right wrist
i) Arm pain and swelling.
Claims
Lewis says the above injuries are a result of a breach of contract and negligence of Uncle Bills.
Concerning breach of contract, it is alleged that it was a term of the contract of employment between Lewis and Uncle Bills and/or that it was the duty of Uncle Bills to implement safety protocol, properly instruct and train industry standards of safety protocol, and take all reasonable care and precautions for the safety of its employees, including Lewis.
The claim adds that Lewis reasonably expected, while he was engaged in his work as a Warehouse Assistant, not to be exposed to an unreasonable risk of injury and damage.
The claim alleges that Uncle Bills failed to implement safety protocols and ensure that management and employees were properly trained and reasonably safe while engaged in their employment duties.
Additionally, the claim alleges that Uncle Bills failed to provide and maintain a suitable work environment to allow Lewis to carry out his work safely and to provide a safe system of work.
Regarding the negligence, the claim alleges that Uncle Bills was negligent and is guilty of breaches of statutory duties by failing to maintain a safe work site, failing to take any or any adequate precautions for the health, safety and welfare of its employees, failing to provide Lewis with adequate or suitable safety equipment, including a safety harness to enable him to carry out the work safely, requiring or causing or permitting Lewis to stand on the forklift knowing it was not secure and failure to ensure it was secured with a proper base and a cage, failing to take any or any reasonable care to ensure that Lewis would be reasonably safe in using the work premises and failing to warn its employees of the dangers to Lewis and others of working in the warehouse and with a defective forklift.
Damages sought
The claim alleges that, as a result of the foregoing, Lewis has been unable to work since the accident. He has, therefore, allegedly suffered a loss of income and future earning capacity.
He is asking the Court for general and special damages for the above, along with expenses for medical treatment, travel, gratuitous care, interest and costs.
