189 N.J.L.J 1021 NEW JERSEY LAW JOURNAL, SEPTEMBER 17, 2007 9
Suits & deals
$1.475M for Workplace Accident
Lopez v. Sender Ornamental Iron Works Inc.: A Union City masonry worker has received $1.475 million to settle his suit over injuries suffered while using a machine on the job.
The accident occurred on Sept. 12, 2005, at Cambridge's Pavers Inc. in Lyndhurst. Employee Mauro Lopez, then 46, was using a machine that tumbled and stacked paving stones when his right hand became caught in a moving part.
His lawyer, John O'Dwyer, of Newark's Ginarte, O'Dwyer, Gonzalez, Gallardo & Winograd, says Lopez suffered multiple fractures to his hand and forearm that required multiple surgeries to repair.
The product-liability suit, venued in Hudson County, named the machine's manufacturer, Sender Ornamental Iron Works Inc., of Pennsylvania. O' Dwyer says the award, offset by a workers' compensation lien of $310,000, was paid on July 29.
Sender Ornamental's carrier, the Continental Insurance Co., retained Lee Eckell, of Princeton's Post & Schell. He refused to confirm the settlement.