
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 12, 1993                   TAG: 9306160339
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By Mark Morrison staff writer
DATELINE: BEDFORD                                 LENGTH: Short

INJURED MEN SUE TRUCKER, COMPANY

Two men injured when their cherry picker truck was hit by a tractoritrailer in Bedford County have filed lawsuits against the driver and his company asking for nearly $8 million in damages.

Jonathan Wade Finn and Kenneth Craig Gusler - both employees of Richardson-Wayland Corp. - were working on a traffic light at the intersection of Virginia 122 and Virginia 24 in June 1991.

According to lawsuits filed in Bedford County Circuit Court, they were working in the bucket of a cherry picker truck, which was extended up to the traffic light.

At the same time, Riley Moses Reynolds of Gretna was driving an over-length tractor-trailer and fai;led to properly make a left turn at the intersection.

Reynolds hit the cherry picker truck, throwing Finn from the bucket and leaving him "hanging precariously from his safety belt," according to Finn's lawsuit filed by Pulaski lawyer Robert Ingram.

He suffered permanent injuries to his head, neck, shoulders and back, Ingram claims. He said Finn underwent spinal fusion surgery and is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. He has been unable to return to work.

Finn is asking for $3,750,000 in damages, naming Reynolds and the tractor-trailer company, Lydall Express Inc. of Manchester, Conn., in the lawsuit.

Gusler also suffered permanent injuries and has been unable to work, according to his lawsuit filed by Roanoke lawyer William Cleaveland. He is asking for $4 million.

by CNB