A worker at the Savannah River Site this month settled his federal personal injury lawsuit against the Energy Department’s operations contractor for the South Carolina facility.
Henry Bradley, who was employed by another contractor at Savannah River, in November 2018 filed the $75,000 suit in U.S. District Court in South Carolina against site manager Savannah River Nuclear Solutions. Bradley said SRNS failed to safely maintain a trailer where he was seriously hurt.
Bradley, a former truck driver for liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation, said he was injured on Nov. 15, 2015, when he stepped into a hole on the back of a heavy flatbed truck – referred to as a “trailer” in the lawsuit. Bradley is no longer employed with SRR, a company spokesman said in a Tuesday email.
In his complaint, Bradley said he suffered injuries to his groin, spine, and shoulder, which caused him long-term bodily harm and mental suffering.
Terms of the settlement were not mentioned in a one-page order issued by Senior U.S. District Judge Terry Wooten on May 13, which simply said the court was “advised by counsel for the parties that this case has settled.”
The case will be officially dismissed within 60 days if neither party files a motion to revive it, according to the judge’s order.
Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions filed a motion to dismiss on May 7, and the court set a mediation deadline of May 11 in anticipation of what would have been a June 25 trial date.
In its motion to dismiss, SRNS said while it is unfortunate that Bradley was hurt, it was not legally liable for his injuries. The trailer in question was owned by the Energy Department and Savannah River Remediation, not Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, had control of it, SRNS said in the motion.
Savannah River Nuclear Solutions’ role was merely to provide annual inspections and maintenance of the trailer, the operations contractor said.
Savannah River Nuclear Solutions also argued that the plaintiff, an experienced truck driver who inspected the trailer more than once in the 24 hours prior to the accident, bears most of the fault for his injuries, according to its motion for summary judgement.
Savannah River Remediation drivers are required to do both inspections both before and after trips to ensure trucks are safe to operate, according to the SRNS filing.
