GAINESVILLE — It has been nearly a year since three Hall County firefighters suffered critical injuries when a ladder truck collapsed during a training incident; now, those firefighters are ready to take legal action against the manufacturer of the truck that was being used for the training.
Sutphen Corporation is the sole defendant in a complaint filed Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of GA - Gainesville division, according to Shane Lazenby, the attorney representing firefighter T.J. Elliott.
Lazenby said the complaint involves general negligence, strict liability and failure to warn in connection with the July 22 incident at the Allen Creek Road training facility east of Gainesville. He said his client is not asking for a specific dollar amount in damages.
"There is no definitive number," said Lazenby. "In the state of Georgia it's left up to the enlightened conscience of fair and impartial jurors, but the complaint does state the amount of special damages from a medical perspective that has currently accumulated, and that is growing every day...currently it's a little over $230,000."
While Lazenby represents only Elliott, he said he had spoken with counsel for the other two firefighters - Will Griffin and Stephen Jackson - and they, too, were prepared to file legal complaints.
Lazenby said the 28-year-old Elliott had been able to return to work about 10 days ago on a very limited basis in the Hall County Fire Marshal's office, although he continues to undergo extensive physical therapy for his injuries.
"Light duty is not really inclusive of any real duties as a firefighter," said Lazenby. "He can't lift anything. His right shoulder is still in very, very bad shape and the use of his right arm is exceedingly limited. The fracture of his vertebrae is still giving him a great deal of trouble and he still has some knee problems. He's at least able to put on a uniform and he's happy about that."
Lazenby said while cases typically move more quickly through the federal courts than lower courts, he doesn't expect to be in a courtroom anytime soon.
"I would expect that we would have extensive amounts of experts on both sides to testify about the defects in this truck, and that will probably result in an extension beyond the four months [discovery period]," said Lazenby.
"If I had to put a number on it, I would say we would probably be in trial sometime in the first half of 2016."
