Manuel Moreno, of Valley Center, California had worked at the Evergreen Nursery in Oceanside, California for more than twenty years, most of those on the same piece of equipment. His primary responsibility was to run a machine that sorts soil. Despite his years of experience, however, Moreno was somehow pulled into and killed by the machine while at work.
Investigators suspect that Moreno was attempting to jump from a front loader onto the machine, when he slipped and got his arm caught on the machine’s conveyor belt. The wheel on the conveyor pulled Moreno into the machine, pinning his face to his shoulder, preventing him from breathing and causing him to suffocate to death.
The California Division of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has said that the nursery has not had a reported safety violation in the last seven years, and that their most recent inspection – in 2008 – did not turn up any violations.
Of course, that does not mean that the nursery provided adequate protection and training for Moreno. Only a court of law will be able to determine that.
At Callahan & Blaine, California’s premier litigation firm, our attorneys are practiced at negotiating and litigating complex personal injury cases like this one. Our firm recently negotiated a $28 million settlement in a similar personal injury case, where a man was left blind and brain damaged as a result of an accident caused by negligent maintenance practices by a trucking company.
Callahan & Blaine uses its 25 years of experience to accomplish record breaking jury verdicts and settlements. If you or someone you know has been catastrophically injured or killed in an accident at work, contact Callahan & Blaine for expert personal injury representation.