A judge has awarded $1.4 million to a repairman whose hand was crushed while he worked on an elevator at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, his lawyers announced Monday.
Joseph Halek of Chicago won his award in U.S. District Court on Aug. 4, four years after the accident took place, according to the Chicago-based Marvin A. Brustin Ltd. law firm.
The incident occurred Aug. 2, 1994, when Halek, then 54 and an employee of Universal Elevator of Chicago, was working on an elevator motor in an administrative building at the Great Lakes naval base near North Chicago.
According to Halek’s lawyer, Marvin Brustin, Halek was reaching around a barricade fence installed by Navy personnel when his hand was pulled into an unguarded cable and pulley mechanism. Halek sustained bone and nerve damage to his hand and had to quit his job, Brustin said.
Brustin argued that the Navy installed a barricade that lacked adequate safeguards.
Judge Joan Gottschall found that Halek was 20 percent at fault and reduced his damages from $1.8 million to $1.4 million.