Peterson v. Modern Metal Products

Outcome: Structured Settlement of $1,020,000 + W/C waiver

Description: The Plaintiff was a quality control inspector for a Wisconsin plastics fabricator who had come to the defendant factory in Loves Park, Illinois to inspect rejected product. As she was walking down an aisle in the facory, a woman operating a forklift truck accidently pushed over two boxes of product that had been stacked four high. Each box had about 800 pounds of product in it. All of it fell onto she and pinned her to the floor of the factory causing her to suffer a Lis Franc fracture of the left foot and ankle (all metatarsals were broken) and a dislocation of her right shoulder. Her surgeon had to reduce the foot fractures with multiple pins, some of which came out in a second separate surgery. Several more pins are anticipated to have to be removed in the future. In connection with the Workers Compensation aspect of the settlment achieved through mediation, a second treating orthopedist opined that surgery would be needed sooner or later on the affected shoulder. The plaintiff, who was 31 at the time of her injury with a husband and three children, received $80,000 plus attorney fees paid in full at the time of settlment. She will received guaranteed payments for the next 30 years that ultimately will have paid her or her estate an additional $600,000. She is no longer able to do her job but has remained an employee of the same company.