ALBANY – The seller and distributor of a post hole digger were found liable for the accident that cost a 16-year-old girl her arm, even though the device’s owner admitted removing the safety plate that would have shielded her from the dangerous mechanism, the state Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.
The 6-1 panel ruled over the objections of a dissenter, who derided his colleague’s “soak-the-rich” attitude, noting that deficiencies in the design of the digger’s safety plate led to it being discarded before the 2004 accident that crippled Jessica Bowers in Niagara County.
