12 December 2013 An agricultural machinery company must pay out some €470,000 arising from a young man's legal action over serious injuries suffered while trying to clear a blockage in a silage harvester. A three judge Supreme Court unanimously upheld findings of negligence against John Deere Ltd (JDL) in designing, manufacturing and selling a silage harvester, model 6810, which the court found was subject to a design fault relating to the location of the opening designed for clearance of blockages. Denis Scollard was 22 in summer 1995 when the fingers of his left hand were crushed after, it was claimed, paddles came down inside the chute of the silage harvester while he was trying to clear a grass blockage in the machine. Mr Scollard sued his then employers, agricultural contractors Thomas and William Wright, who settled that case for €430,000. The Wrights then sued AIB Finance & Leasing and Geary's Garage Ltd which respectively leased and supplied the harvester to them. In turn, those defendants sought an indemnity from JDL as manufactuer and supplier of the harvester. After the High Court ruled they were entitled to that indemnity, JDL appealed to the Supreme Court. Giving the Supreme Court judgment, Mr Justice Frank Clarke upheld the High Court's findings of negligence by JDL in designing, manufacturing and selling a silage harvester with a design defect. He agreed with the High Court the injuries suffered by Mr Scolland were a foreseeable consequence of that negligence and ruled JDL must pay the €430,000 secured by Mr Wright, plus another €40,000 legal costs. The judge noted a 400 page manual supplied with the harvester included a one page summary which made clear work should not be done on the machine while the engine was running or if someone was in the cab. It was accepted blockages occurred which had to be cleared by a person crawling between two side wheels of the harvester, opening the inspection hatch and gaining access to any grass causing the blockage. Mr Justice Clarke said there was a clear dispute as to how the accident happened but the High Court was entitled to conclude it happened as Mr Scollard and two eye witnesses had claimed. The judge also noted experts for JDL insisted the accident could not have happened as alleged and argued there was no scientific basis to explain how the paddles could have moved unless the engine was engaged. The eyewitnesses insisted it happened as alleged and their medical experts also argued, had the engine been running, Mr Scollard's injuries would have been different and almost certainly much more severe.
Where can I find more specifics on this case?
Probably get the original case here Watgen and in a couple of weeks the judgement should appear on the Irish supreme court site. http://www.bailii.org/ie/cases/IEHC/ http://www.courts.ie/Judgments.nsf/Webpages/HomePage?OpenDocument&Start=59
SOoooo basically the guy was an idiot and he got about 1/2 a million dollars out of it nearly 20 years after it happened?!
And your reason for this statement is?? I take it you have unblocked silage harvesters a lot,this accident happened nearly 20 years ago but it has taken the appeals process this long to place the blame at John Deere's door.
I don't think this guy had much experience if he's sticking his hand inside a blower of a harvester with the engine running, that's mostly the employer's fault for putting him in the seat. But honestly there's some real idiots out there, I've witnessed one of our hired hand s unplugging corn from the throat of a 500hp harvester with the engine at full throttle, just inches away from being pulled through and being chopped up in seconds. Thank good ness for seat sensors nowadays. Why people think they can stick their hands in running equipment that can pull corn in like this is beyond me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg6b9NLw3-U
It seems like in this case it was under dispute whether the engine was running or not. The plaintiff says it was not, "what are you calling me an idiot?" John Deere says it was, "there is no other way it could have happened" There is no way for us sitting on the other side of the world 20 years removed to know what really happened.
In my opinion and I do have extensive experience of grass silage harvesters, Where the blower is located and the speed it runs at, even someone with half a brain couldn't or wouldn't get at it. Then if the blower was stopped by the grass load from a blocked chute how long would the powerband driving the blower last with 600+hp spinning it. It was disputed by JD that the blower paddles could move with the engine off but I have seen that happen once the load of jammed grass was moved, the blower paddles reverses caused by the powerband tensioner.
Yair . . . As others have said it's difficult to know the full facts of this case but it seems to me impractical and unreasonable to expect a manufacturer to fit an anti/reverse/automatic lock to every rotating assembly. Indeed, if clearing any sort of blockage in anything it's the last thing you would want. It seems the bloke may have got the blockage clear and the freed up assembly moved possibly from built in tension as mentioned by stock and jammed his hand. Accidents do happen, despite what the safety Gurus tell us. Cheers.
Idiot because he stuck his hands in a place they shouldn't have been I'm certainly not calling that fellow an idiot with implication that I'm perfect. It sure sucks that he had his hand injured, but why is it not he who is at fault? Did anyone force him to stick his hands in the machine? Is that normal practice? I don't understand how the boss is at fault or the dealership the machine came from. As a supervisor and now a boss it's impossible for me to think of EVERYTHING that another person might do and make sure they are doing it safely.