According to Cuprum’s experts, the bending of the ladder’s right side rail occurred because Baugh fell on top of the ladder, not because the ladder failed structurally. Michael Stevenson and Michael Van Bree, both engineers with Engineering Systems Incorporated, testified for Cuprum at trial. This consequently caused the pail shelf, which is not designed to be a step, to bend from the excess weight, causing Baugh to lose his balance and the ladder to topple over. According to Cuprum, this allowed Baugh to brace himself against the facade, but also involved him stepping too high up onto the ladder’s pail shelf and forced him to awkwardly position his body to work on the gutter. In contrast, Cuprum’s theory at trial was that Baugh had misused the ladder, placing it in an adjacent flower bed in such a manner that his back faced the house as he climbed the ladder. Smith further concluded that, prior to the fall, the ladder had been set up so that Baugh would climb the ladder facing the house. According to Smith, the damage to the left leg of the ladder suggests that the right leg first collapsed, causing the ladder to twist and fall to the 2 right, placing an “outward load on that left ladder leg as it falls over.” Id. Smith further noted that damage to other parts of the ladder were consistent with the ladder’s leg collapsing underneath Baugh. Smith testified that he studied the bent ladder rail and concluded “its geometry and configuration was such that it could not handle the load being put onto the leg.” Id. Baugh also presented the expert testimony of Kevin Smith, a mechanical engineer, who similarly opined that the ladder failed structurally. Vinson never tested his proposed thicker ladder construction, although he claimed a lab experiment or computer reconstruction was unnecessary given his mathematical calculations. Vinson ultimately concluded that the ladder’s side rails and supporting gussets failed because they were too thin and that a thicker design would have prevented the accident. Vinson then opined that, given the ladder’s long, thin construction, a 200-pound user like Baugh could exert a combination of forces that would exceed the strength of the Cuprum ladder, causing it to buckle. Vinson explained the differences between dynamic loads-which exert varying amounts of force-and static loads-which exert a constant amount of force. Jack Vinson, a mechanical engineer and professor at the University of Delaware. To prove this theory, Baugh first offered the expert testimony of Dr. Baugh argued at trial that he used the ladder properly-that is, placing it in front of the house so that he would be facing the gutter while he worked-but that the ladder gave out from underneath him. But with brain injuries rendering Baugh incapable of testifying and no other witness to the fall, the parties would be forced to rely on experts to reconstruct the events of that day. Baugh filed this suit, alleging the former. Less obvious, however, was whether some defect in the ladder’s design caused it to buckle underneath Baugh, or whether the fall was simply a tragic accident caused by Baugh himself. Baugh quite clearly fell from the ladder and struck his head. Now that ladder was strewn across the driveway, its right leg bent, its left leg twisted, and its pail shelf dented. Moments before, Baugh had been using a Cuprum ladder while replacing screws on a gutter in front of his home. Background On August 1, 2006, a neighbor discovered Baugh sitting in his driveway holding a screwdriver and bleeding from his head. For the following reasons, those motions are denied. Cuprum now moves for judgment as a matter of law, or in the alternative, for a new trial. Lee MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Following a trial, a jury awarded $11,142,928.82 in damages to Plaintiff John Baugh (“Baugh”) for injuries suffered while using a ladder designed and manufactured by Defendant Cuprum S.A. 422 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION JOHN BAUGH, by and through his wife and next friend, SHARON BAUGH, Plaintiff, v.
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