By Lorie Love Hailey
A Richmond wrecker service is being sued by a Lee County man who claims he was injured last year by an employee of the company.
Stanley Couch of Beattyville filed the suit Dec. 14 in Madison Circuit Court against Barger’s Inc. In it, he alleges that the company’s negligence caused him to suffer permanent physical impairment and other damages.
The lawsuit says Couch was injured on Dec. 17, 2008, when a Barger’s employee was operating a tow truck on Red House Road in Madison County. The employee was attempting to tow a “stuck truck” and asked Couch to “pull the tow cable from the Barger’s Inc. vehicle to connect it to the stuck truck,” according to the suit.
Before Couch connected the tow cable, the Barger’s employee retracted the cable and pulled Couch “backward and down a hill causing him serious injury,” the lawsuit reads.
Couch claims the employee was “negligent in the operation of his vehicle by failing to exercise ordinary care to prevent forseeable injury” and the company failed to “properly implement standards and procedures for the safe operation of its equipment.”
He also alleges that Barger’s Inc. did not properly train or supervise its employees.
As a result of the incident, Couch incurred property damage, permanent physical impairment, inconvenience, medical and transportation expenses, lost wages, permanent impairment of earning power and mental and physical pain and suffering, the lawsuit claims.
Lawyers for Couch are asking for a jury trial, and for judgment against Barger’s “in an amount shown by the evidence to be established at trial, together with pre-judgment and post-judgment interest” and Couch’s costs in filing and carrying out the suit.
Barger’s Inc. has not yet filed a response to the suit.
Lorie Love Hailey can be reached at llove@richmondregister.com or 624-6690.
