Scott Toomey of Littleton Park’s Pennsylvania office obtained a defense verdict in Santa Fe, New Mexico on behalf of Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. , Hyundai Construction Equipment Americas, Inc., Hyundai Construction Co., Ltd. and Cisco Equipment NM Sales, LLC. The case arose out of a January 2, 2015 catastrophic workplace accident in Eddy County, New Mexico. Plaintiff Christopher Armendarez sustained amputation injuries to his right arm and right leg when he walked within the swing radius of the subject excavator and the excavator’s hammer attachment dropped, striking him. Plaintiff alleged that the accident occurred as a result of a design defect in the excavator’s operational controls. Defendants presented a host of evidence at trial demonstrating that the excavator was not defective and that the accident occurred due to a variety of workplace safety failures. In closing arguments, Plaintiff’s counsel made a demand of $176 million in compensatory damages and $1.1 billion in punitive damages. After a two week trial, the jury returned a unanimous verdict in Defendants’ favor. The following attorneys also contributed to this effort: Dan Kain, Amanda Kim, Kristen Dennison (Littleton Park), Dominic Surprenant (Quinn Emanuel), Brook Laskey and Stephanie Demers (McCoy Leavitt Laskey).
