Injured forklift operator says warehouse unsafe

A forklift operator in Orange says unsafe warehouse conditions led to his injuries.

Cecil Busby Jr. filed a personal injury lawsuit against Akrotex Warehouse Inc. in Orange County District Court on May 2.

Busby says he was severely injured on March 21 while operating a forklift in the course of employment for the defendant.

According to the plaintiff's original petition, Akrotex is negligent because it failed to examine the warehouse rack beam heights to ensure the forklift could be operated safely and failed to provide a forklift that included vertical framing or rear posts on the corners of the machine to protect the plaintiff from horizontal components entering the forklift's operator compartment.

In addition, the suit says the warehouse failed to maintain a safe work environment, to provide bottom shelves or bumper rails, to consider the use of other equipment and to provide Busby with proper training.

The suit says the defendant was not a subscriber of the workers' compensation program.

Busby seeks damages for physical pain, disability and suffering, mental anguish, loss of earnings and earning capacity, impairment, disfigurement and medical expenses.

Plaintiff's attorneys Adam Terrell and Steven Toups of Weller, Green, Toups and Terrell LLP in Beaumont are requesting defendant complete interrogatories within 50 days. The interrogatories are to include photographs of the accident, operating manuals, rental or sales receipts for the forklift, repairs and maintenance records, minutes of training or safety meetings, accident reports and information on the storage racks.

The case has been assigned to the 260th Orange County District Court, Judge Buddie Hahn presiding.

Case No. D070-225-C