Delano Jackson worked for defendant Master Painting and Sheeting Co. of Youngstown, Ohio, a contractor that provided painting services for electrical substations for factories such as LTV Steel in Canton, Ohio.
On the day he was injured, Delano was painting “holidays” which are spots that were missed when the initial coat of paint was put on the electrical substation. As part of the safety procedures in place, LTV provided “spotters” to tell painters when they were getting close to dangerous high voltage areas. Unfortunately, on that fatal day, LTV failed to provide spotters to protect the painters. As a result, Delano came into contact with a high voltage line which caused catastrophic injuries including the loss of both legs and his left fore arm and burns over 50% of his body.
Doctors at Childrens Medical Center in Akron, Ohio did not expect Delano to live, let alone walk again but after thousands of hours of painful therapy, he was able to walk 20 yards with the use of artificial limbs.
The Jackson family brought suit against LTV and Delano’s employer alleging they were negligent in failing to provide spotters to prevent the exact type of incident that led Delano to come in contact with the 13,800 volts of electricity. When he was shocked, the lights in the entire plant went out and Delano literally burst in flames.
After the second day of trial, the defendants agreed to settle the case for the sum of $2.2 million which, at the time, was the largest settlement in Stark County history.