Another Big Win for Bradley Shafer and our Wheeling, West Virginia Office!

On April 11, 2014 Plaintiff, a delivery driver, was delivering a variety of products to a residence in Monongalia County, West Virginia.  Plaintiff was driving a boom truck and as he approached the house he discovered he could not pass underneath the telephone and cable wires that stretched across the driveway.  Having been in this situation before, the driver climbed on top of his truck and wrapped the cable and phone wires with plastic wrap.  He was intending to then wrap those wires to the power line above, which he believed to be the neutral wire.  Unfortunately, in this case he was wrong.  When he grabbed the wire he received a terrific electrical shock that resulted in the loss of his right arm from the elbow down.  After filing a workers’ compensation claim, Plaintiff sued the telephone company, cable company, and power company.  He claimed the telephone and cable wires were lower than what was permitted by law and that the power company was negligent in switching the neutral and live lines, putting the live line lower on the pole. 

After protracted litigation, the West Virginia Court granted summary judgment in favor of our client finding it was not reasonably foreseeable that the employee would try to move the wires on his own with plastic wrap.

Bradley K. Shafer is the Managing Partner of our Wheeling, West Virgina office.  Bradley spends much of his time advising his clients on labor, employment and workers’ compensation matters.  He has become a trusted advisor to his clients having relationships with many that date back over 15 years.  Bradley has earned a reputation for breaking down the complex legalese into plain English that his clients can then implement and enforce through their own internal policies and procedures.

In addition to helping draft policies and procedures and providing counseling on immediate workforce issues, Bradley has successfully defended his clients in litigation in both state and federal court as well as arbitrations.  Bradley has tried cases to verdict in both state and federal courts in Ohio, West Virginia, and Virginia.  He has also handled matters pending before the Ohio Civil Rights Administration, West Virginia Human Rights Commission, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, West Virginia Division of Labor and United States Department of Labor.  Bradley has also handled matters before the National Labor Relations Board, defended his clients in grievance hearings, and obtained injunctive relief when behavior on the picket line got out of hand.  He also handles workers compensation claims in Ohio and West Virginia.  Bradley also assists his clients in regards to contract disputes, privacy issues, commercial litigation, and personal injury and premises liability.