Lawsuit Filed Against Owners of a Chocolate Plant
Posted on Jan 14, 2010 2:40pm PST
On Tuesday, an attorney announced that a family would be filing a personal injury lawsuit against the owners of a Camden chocolate plant. The family alleges that Vincent Smith II, a temporary worker at the plant, died after falling into a melting vat while he was mixing cocoa.
The family decided to pursue their lawsuit after federal authorities cited the plant $39,000 for several safety violations. Each of the safety violations is listed in the family's lawsuit, which was filed on December 30th in Philadelphia.
On July 8, 2009, Smith was adding raw cocoa into an 8 foot mixing and melting tank. The tank didn't have any guardrails, which the family's lawyer says caused Smith to fall into a tank that contained 120 degree liquid and a rotating paddle, which struck Smith in the head.
The attorney for the family, Thomas R. Kline, also said that the floor around the tank was slippery due to melted chocolate, there were no warning signs, there were no emergency shut off switches and there wasn't any gear for other workers to rescue Smith with. Kline claims that due to all of the aforementioned factors, the company's owners should be found negligent and held liable for Smith's death.
The defendants listed on the lawsuit are Lyons & Sons Inc. and Cocoa Services along with contractors who designed and built the chocolate factory. Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigators said that Lyons and Cocoa Services were cited for failing to install safety railings above their tanks and also for lack of warning signs.
At this time, it has not been revealed how much compensation the family is seeking.
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