Worker Awarded $700K Following Collapse In Field

A Maine judge awarded a Machias, ME, man close to $730,000 in damages for injuries he sustained following a heat stroke collapse, reports the Bangor Daily News.

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The newspaper says Michael Lund sued Millard A. Whitey & Sons in 2015, claiming the berry farm did not prepare him for the burning of a field, work he says he had never done before.

Lund allegedly became disoriented during the second burn of the afternoon of March 22, 2012 and collapsed. He was taken to a local hospital where his body temperature was 108°F and was unresponsive and in respiratory failure. He was transferred to Eastern Main Medical Center in Bangor, ME, and was released after four days. Lund says he still suffers pain in his right shoulder and lower legs, which limits his activities.

In a jury-waved trial in September, Superior Court Justice William Anderson found evidence that Millard A. Whitney & Sons did not educate workers to recognize the signs and dangers of heat stroke. Anderson also said Lund did nothing to contribute to his own injuries.

The Daily News says Anderson awarded Lund $68,845 in medical expenses, $165,000 in lost income, $400,000 for pain and suffering, and $96,000 for permanent injuries.

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Avatar for Dan Dan says:

I find it just amazing that we employers have to try and teach our employees common sense. They can smoke Marijuana on the weekend drink a 5th of Whiskey, WE pay for their Obama Care that doesn`t work and still I have to tell them to get out of the SUN. Even My DOG knows that…………..In Calif I have to teach them not to play with WASPS.. SOCIALIZATION OF AMERICA BIG BROTHERS KNOWS BEST READ THE BOOK ” 1984″

Avatar for Mike Mike says:

I agree Dan.

Avatar for john john says:

If you’re too stupid to keep hydrated when working outside in the heat, then you simply don’t deserve to live.

Avatar for tom wilson tom wilson says:

Dan, Mike and John,

It helps to understand what it is you read! They had him burning a field without any training!
But when all else fails blame it on Obama!!!

Avatar for Pamela Bloom Pamela Bloom says:

Even with repeated training and the information that is out there, Common Sense is a super power since so few people have it. When the worker no longer has to think for himself about what he is doing and questions it? But they don’t ask questions, they tell you they understand what you want them to do but how many have gone back and asked the worker to repeat your instructions back to you. I’m always suprised that I have to go over instructions four or five times before they comprehend. What we think as common sense as supervisors does not follow thru to the workers. A lot of the labor force that works in agriculture barely read, it is hard to understand this but even after training people every summer about heat stress, stroke, overexposure it doesn’t sink in. WHY? And when lawyers and judges view this the message is clear- money- . How much of this settlement is actually going back to the worker,? how much does the lawyer get? And who is paying the court cost? It isn’t about health care, or even training, One worker- how many work on this farm field in an average year?Your story is very limited in scope so I can only form a minor conclusion. Incompetence is the problem on both sides and I see no answers in the future.

Avatar for Nicky Nicky says:

So I understand that they burn blueberry fields in Maine, but how did he get overheated, in March when it is cold. We burn cane fields in Florida, but I don’t think people get hot, they get out of the way.

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