enlarge Jack Milton/Staff Photographer

Terry Garmey holds a piece of saftey equipment that he said could have prevented the death of Thomas Brown in a forklift accident in 2003. With him in the offices of Smith Elliot Smith & Garmey are Brown's widow, Claire, center, and attorney Nicole Lorenzatti.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled Thursday that manufacturers have a duty in some situations to warn consumers of hazards discovered after the product is sold, even people who bought the product from another party.

The ruling is a key element in a Sanford widow's legal battle to win compensation from an Ohio forklift manufacturer for her husband's fatal accident five years ago.

The ruling will hopefully prevent other needless deaths, said Claire Brown, the widow of Thomas Brown, who was killed in 2003 when he was pinned against shelving while operating a forklift.

"It still hurts every day," she said. "If I can stop another person from going through this, it will be worth it."

But the manufacturer's attorney said the ruling is not so clear-cut and may in fact help his client. "This battle is far from over," said Robert Stier, who represents Crown Equipment Corp.

The case has drawn a lot of attention, with insurance companies and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce lending support to the manufacturer, and the Maine Trial Lawyers Association and the American Association for Justice helping Brown.

In August 2006, a federal court jury awarded $4.2 million to Brown. That award was later reduced to $1.5 million because Maine caps the amount plaintiffs may receive for the loss of spousal companionship.

Crown Equipment Corp. appealed the verdict to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, contending the judge had erred by instructing the jury that a failure-to-warn claim exists under Maine law. In turn, the appellate court asked Maine's top court whether state law requires manufacturers to warn purchasers of hazards that become known after a product is sold.

The judicial court noted that Maine courts haven't accepted the strict warning laws recognized in other states, but said Maine common law nevertheless requires manufacturers in some situations to warn people about hazards, and this forklift case is one of those situations.

The court concluded that Crown Equipment had known that its forklift posed risks to operators but failed to warn Brown or his employer, Prime Tanning of Berwick, about those risks and therefore should be held responsible for his death.

The ruling removes any doubt under Maine law that manufacturers have post-sale duty to inform known users of their products of any safety hazards, said Terry Garmey, the attorney who represented the Brown family.

Stier, Crown Equipment's attorney, said the forklift had a label warning that it posed a danger when operated under shelving units and that it could cause the operator to be pinned – the situation that occurred in Thomas Brown's accident.

According to trial testimony, he was trying to get out of work early on a Friday afternoon to celebrate the 30th anniversary of meeting his wife. When Brown found supplies piled in an aisle in a chemical storage area, he climbed into the forklift to put them away before he went home.

The lift he was driving positioned him standing in the back of the vehicle, facing sideways.

This gave the driver a wide range of motion, enabling him to move loads quickly and safely, Crown Equipment's lawyer said. A hard metal guard that extended 51 inches up from the ground protected Brown. But he backed into a horizontal shelf that was about 55 inches high.

Brown was pinned between the shelf and the console of his machine. He suffocated slowly before co-workers discovered him.

With Thursday's ruling, the case now returns to the First Circuit appellate court.

Stier said the high court's opinion recognizes that the judge in 2006 overstated Maine legal standards regarding manufacturers' warnings, and he thinks the ruling will help his client's appeal.

"This was a terrible accident, but it happened with a good product from a responsible manufacturer," he said.

Staff Writer Tom Bell can be contacted at 791-6369 or at:

tbell@pressherald.com