John Deere Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed After Man Falls from Bulldozer

The family of a man who fell off a bulldozer and was run over has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against John Deere and a seatbelt manufacturer. 

The product liability lawsuit was filed on October 14 in the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division, by the family of Kyle Northcutt, who was training to be a heavy equipment operator at Associated Training Services of Texas, according to a report in The Southeast Texas Record.

While driving over a ridge on July 30, Northcutt was thrown from the John Deere bulldozer, which continued moving and ran him over. The lawsuit names John Deer & Co. and Indiana Mills & Manufacturing as defendants. The training service was not named as a defendant by the family.

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According to the John Deere lawsuit, the seatbelt inadvertently unlatched and the dozer failed to include a pressure switch that could have shut it off if the operator was not present. The lawsuit alleges that John Deere failed to use an adequate seatbelt and failed to install a pressure sensitive switch.

The lawsuit also charges Indiana Mills & Manufacturing with negligence and strict liability for failing to design a seatbelt that stays latched or which can inadvertently unlatch or appear to be latched when it is not. The lawsuit claims the company failed to follow industry standards in creating the seatbelt and of failing to warn Northcutt of the seatbelt’s deficiencies.

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1 Comments

  • jerryApril 30, 2012 at 5:50 am

    i owned a 2007 john deere 700xlt dozer and had trouble with it it almost got me killed doing some clearing work when it mafunctioned and turned over against a tree with me leavinf half unconcious as the machined pinned me against the tree i had reported problems wjth this machine to john deere sveral times months earlier and to the better business burea asking for help to make john deere fix the [Show More]i owned a 2007 john deere 700xlt dozer and had trouble with it it almost got me killed doing some clearing work when it mafunctioned and turned over against a tree with me leavinf half unconcious as the machined pinned me against the tree i had reported problems wjth this machine to john deere sveral times months earlier and to the better business burea asking for help to make john deere fix the equipment. but they refused to fix the machine i have tapes and pictures of theses events and problems can anybody help me?

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