Products Liability Law Reporter

Elliot Betteridge, a 40-year-old utility lineman, was working on an elevated aerial lift, standing in a bucket designed and manufactured by Terex Utilities Inc. and sold by Genuine Parts Co. The door to the bucket opened suddenly, and Betteridge fell 27 feet. He sustained a pulmonary embolism; a blunt cardiac injury; a fractured wrist, sternum, and calcaneus; and fractured vertebrae and ribs. He required spinal fusion surgery and open reduction internal fixation surgery. He also suffered PTSD. His medical expenses were over $522,300. He returned to work a year-and-a-half after the incident and incurred approximately $201,800 in lost income.

Betteridge filed suit against Terex Utilities and Genuine Parts Co., alleging that the bucket was sold in a defective, unreasonably dangerous condition and that the defendants had failed to warn of the potential hazards of using the bucket. The plaintiff asserted that the bucket’s plunger-style securing pin had the potential to be inadvertently lifted and that there had been prior complaints about the pin.
Genuine Parts Co. settled before trial.

The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for more than $824,200.

Citation: Betteridge v. Terex Utils. Inc., No. 2020-CV-13077 (Or. Cir. Ct. Multnomah Cnty. Nov. 9, 2022).

Plaintiff counsel: AAJ members Kimberly O. Weingart, Portland, Ore.; and Jeffrey A. Bowersox, Lake Oswego, Ore.