Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 23, 1994 TAG: 9412230152
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Reid Johnson had asked for much more; lawyers argued he was entitled to nearly $2 million for the carpal tunnel syndrome he suffered from operating an air-powered grinder for Norfolk Southern Corp.
After a four-day trial in Roanoke Circuit Court, the jury agreed with Johnson that the railroad's negligence caused his injury, but awarded him just one-third of his estimated lost wages.
It was believed to be the first jury verdict in Southwest Virginia - and possibly the state - from a lawsuit filed by someone with carpal tunnel syndrome, which is pain in the arms and wrists caused by repetitive motions. It most often affects such workers as typists, assembly line workers and computer programmers.
Johnson's attorney, Richard Cranwell of Vinton, argued that his client's injuries were caused by the vibration of the grinder - an occupational hazard about which the railroad should have warned its employees.
"At no time, ever, when he was working for the railroad, was he instructed that the use of the grinder could cause any injury," Cranwell told the jury.
As a grinder and welder for Norfolk Southern, Johnson used a double-gripped, hand-held power grinder to sand down boxcars and other equipment in the railroad shops.
He testified that he began suffering from pain and numbness in his hands shortly after starting his job in 1989. He underwent surgery to correct the problem, but continued to experience pain in his hands and was taken off the job in 1993.
Bradley Fitzgerald, a Roanoke lawyer who represented the railroad, had argued that Johnson's carpal tunnel syndrome was not caused by his job.
Accusing the plaintiff of ``hindsight mentality,'' Fitzgerald told the jury ``it is too simplistic to say that he was exposed to grinding, we know grinding can cause carpal tunnel syndrome, so that must be it.''
Fitzgerald also took issue with assertions that Johnson never will be able to work again. Although he cannot perform a job that requires repetitive motion, Johnson can use his hands - and his mind - for many other things, Fitzgerald said.
"Is Mr. Johnson going to spend the rest of his life doing nothing?" Fitzgerald asked.
Cranwell, however, charged that the railroad failed to educate its workers about the early warning signs of carpal tunnel syndrome, and that it did not offer the grinders gloves to absorb the vibrations until after Johnson's lawsuit was filed.
"They have sat idly by doing nothing," Cranwell said, wondering aloud to the jury "how many other poor souls" suffered the same plight as his client.
Almost 90,000 U.S. workers lost time from their jobs in 1992 because of repetitive strain injuries, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
by CNB