Effingham woman awarded $13 million following forklift accident

Feb. 12—An Effingham woman was awarded a $13 million verdict following a forklift accident that resulted in part of her left leg being amputated.

Last month, a six-person jury in the Southern District of Illinois awarded Adelaida Anderson $13,045,766 against the manufacturer of the forklift, The Raymond Corporation. Anderson sued the corporation after an accident that occurred on July 29, 2017, at a FedEx warehouse in Effingham, alleging the forklift was unreasonably dangerous. FedEx was not cited following an OSHA investigation.

Anderson was operating the stand-up forklift when she slipped, lost her balance, and fell out of the forklift, which had an unguarded rear entry. The forklift continued moving, and her foot caught in its rear wheel, resulting in the amputation of her left leg below the knee.

The case was tried in 2021 in the U.S. Southern District of Illinois, and a jury ruled in favor of the defendant, The Raymond Corporation.

Anderson appealed the case to the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals after expert testimony was barred that offered a primary alternative design theory that Raymond should equip each forklift with a door to assist operators in staying safely on the forklift. The appeal argued that the trial court improperly excluded the evidence. The Court of Appeals agreed and remanded the case for retrial. After eight days of testimony, the jury ruled in favor of Anderson.

The verdict was bittersweet for Anderson, who since the accident has not only lost part of her leg but her husband, Jeff Anderson, who succumbed to cancer in 2022.

"I lost my leg and can't get it back. I lost my husband. It's so hard for me every day, every night," she said.

Following the amputation, Anderson said she relied on her husband for everything.

"He did everything for me — carry me in the shower, getting groceries, he cooked," she said.

Anderson, who had worked at the FedEx facility for 10 years before the accident and had been operating a forklift even longer, said she is no longer able to work due to constant pain from continuous neuroma, a benign tumor of nerve tissue that is often associated with pain. Neuromas most commonly arise from non-neuronal nervous tissue after amputation or trauma, according to the National Library of Medicine.

Because of the condition, Anderson has a difficult time getting a prosthetic that is not exceedingly painful.

"Imagine a knot of nerves at the end of your leg, and you have to stand on that knot of nerves in a bucket that's part of your prosthetic. It can be exceedingly painful, and that's what's unfortunate. Lidy has a stump that's proven very difficult to manage because of continual neuroma growth," said her attorney, Michael J. Warshauer.

The condition leaves Anderson unable to do activities she did before.

Anderson continues to live in her split-level home with her 18-year-old son despite being challenged by stairs on every level.

"Hopefully, we'll be able to, once this verdict is collected, really get her in a house that works for her and improves her life," said Warshauer.

It is unknown if the Raymond Corporation will appeal the verdict. An attorney for the corporation declined comment.

Warshauer said the goal of the litigation was not only to help Anderson but also to prevent something like that from happening again.

"We hope when people hear about verdicts like these, they will look at the machine that hurt them and go, 'gosh if this machine had been made better,'" said Warshauer.

For now, Anderson is taking it "day by day."

"It's too hard every day. Just crying every night," she said.

Cathy Griffith can be reached at [email protected] or 618-510-9180.