WV Man Sues Yamaha, Farm Owners for ATV Accident

A West Virginia man has filed a lawsuit against Yamaha Motor Corp. and the owners of a farm where he worked as a handyman after he was severely injured in an all-terrain vehicle accident.

Stephen Parrish filed his lawsuit on May 6, 2009 in Kanawha Circuit Court against Richard and Marilou McClung, who owned the farm near Ravenswood, W.V., where Parrish did odd jobs, and Yamaha, which made the ATV involved in the incident.

Parrish said he was injured on May 12, 2007 while working for the McClungs to move fence posts from a storage location on the farm to the area where a fence was being built. According to his suit, his employers did not provide him with a tractor to move the building materials and he was instructed to use a Yamaha ATV to haul the posts.

Parrish said he was forced to strap the posts to the front and back racks of the ATV, which overturned as he was riding it, pinning him underneath the vehicle. He suffered severe and permanent injuries in the accident, according to his lawsuit.

Parrish claims that the McClungs were negligent for not providing him with the proper equipment to do is work and for carrying workers’ compensation insurance. He is seeking financial compensation for his damages stemming from the accident. Yamaha is accused of marketing an unsafe vehicle, which contributed to the accident.

ATV Deaths, Injuries on the Rise

Deaths and injuries caused by ATVs such as the one driven by Parrish are an increasing threat. Each year, about 700 people – including nearly 200 children – are killed in ATV accidents across the United States, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Another 135,000 people — more than a quarter of them children — are treated in emergency rooms each year for ATV-related injuries, the CPSC said.

ATVs that are defectively designed, built, or maintained are to blame for many roll-over accidents, in which drivers, passengers, and bystanders are trapped beneath the immense weight of the vehicles. Also, defective steering, braking, and other systems on ATVs are responsible for many such accidents.

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