Minnesota juries have a reputation for very conservative damage awards; therefore, it came as somewhat of a surprise when a Hennepin County jury awarded $35.3 million in damages to Gary Forde in a suit against California-based George M. Martin Co. after he was permanently injured while working with one of the company’s box stacking machines.
According to a report in the Pioneer Press, the punitive award, which was determined after a settlement had been reached on the amount of actual damages Forde had suffered, is possibly the largest individual verdict in the State’s history.
Forde suffered permanent brain damage, when the box stacker crushed his head. In his product liability action against Martin he proved that a safety device, which the company had used in Europe for almost 10 years, had not been installed on the machine Forde was working with.
The Pioneer Press quoted John Dornik, President-elect of the Hennepin County Bar Association, as saying the verdict was “Unbelievable. Anything in the seven figures is a big deal here. In Minnesota, juries tend to act like it’s their own money.”
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