LIFT TRUCK COMPANY AGREES TO PAY HURT MAN $1.5 MILLION

The manufacturer of an aerial lift truck that a Union Electric foreman was in when he suffered electrical shock in 1989 has agreed to pay a $1.5 million out-of-court settlement.

The money will go to Glenn Hatley, the employee, and his wife, Janet Hatley. The couple, of Bertrand, filed suit against the truck's maker, the Alabama corporation of Altec Industries Inc.

Glenn Hatley suffered injuries on March 3, 1989, while in the truck's bucket. He touched a 34,000-volt electrical wire at a Union Electric substation at the Lone Star Industries Inc. plant, 2524 S. Sprigg.

Hatley, then 44 and a 20-year Union Electric employee, sustained severe burns in the accident, and had to have his arms amputated above the elbows, says the couple's three-count complaint filed in February 1990.

A stipulation for dismissal of the lawsuit was received Monday in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau. Attorneys for both the defense and plaintiffs filed the stipulation.

An affidavit says the two parties agreed to the $1.5 settlement. The defense filed the affidavit July 1 in opposition to a motion by the couple for Altech to pay court costs.

The couple had initially asked for $5 million in each of the first two counts and $2 million in the third count, plus expended costs. The court costs are to be assessed following the court's ruling on the couple's motion, the stipulation reads.

The couple maintained in their complaint that the truck was defective because it provided a path for an electrical current from the truck's bucket to the ground. They said the truck was being used at the time in a manner reasonably anticipated.

But Altech maintained in its answer to the complaint that Hatley had failed to use the product as reasonably anticipated. Hatley's action, it said, caused or contributed to cause his injuries.

Altech said Hatley's recovery should be reduced by the amount of his "comparative fault."

The Hatley's attorney, John Cook of Cape Girardeau, could not be contacted for comment Monday night. Defense attorney Mary Anne Mellow said she could not discuss the case without first talking to her clients.