Porter-New Caney Weekly

Channelview, Texas

April 9, 1997

Judge awards $495,000 to injured man

Brookshire Brothers of Lufkin has been ordered to pay $495,000 to a former New Caney man for injuries suffered while working at the company's grocery store in New Caney.

Carl Dean Lewis, 44, a former meat department manager, injured his back in 1991.

In February, a Conroe jury awarded him $300,000, and on Friday, State District Judge Lee G. Alworth signed a judgment for the higher amount, which included the addition of interest as required by state law.

"This case emphasizes the problems Texas workers face when their employers choose to be non-subscribers to workers compensation coverage," said John Tavormina, Lewis's attorney.

Lewis, who had joined the work force as a teenager, had worked his way up through the ranks at Brookshire Brothers to a position that paid him $42,000 a year at the time of his injury, Tavormina said.

He hurt his back July 29, 1991, while lifting meat into a grinder. The company argued that Lewis had injured himself by using unsafe lifting procedures.

Co-workers testified, however, that they used the same methods to lift meat. Courtroom demonstrations showed that workers routinely boosted the meat to chest level using their knees to push it over the side of the grinders.

"The company had no safety rules about the dangers of lifting such heavy loads above the waist," Tavormina said. "That, coupled with a mercenary attitude toward helping injured workers, has cost Brookshire Brothers a $495,000 court judgment. More importantly, it has dramatically emphasized the problems in Texas where companies can choose to operate without proper coverage to protect their most vital resource–the workers who make their businesses successful."