Mississippi Man Lied in Suit Over Slot Machine Injury

Lawyers for a Mississippi casino say a man lied under oath as part of a lawsuit that claims he was hurt by a slot machine.

Randy Perkins says he was gambling at the Tunica Roadhouse Casino in August 2010 when the door of the slot machine fell open and hit his left arm. That, he says, caused him to jump back and injure his spine. He filed a $750,000 lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Greenville in July 2011.

The casino filed a motion this week to have the lawsuit dismissed, denying the machine hurt Perkins and alleging he lied during a sworn deposition about six previous workman’s compensation claims in Ohio, Nebraska and Georgia.

Perkins attorney, Jonathan Barrett, said he can’t discuss the case because the lawsuit is pending.

Perkins, of Hickman County, Tenn., claims he was unemployed at the time of the incident, but the injuries prevented him from taking a job at a food plant in Louisiana.

The lawsuit claims the “heavy metal front of the slot machine” fell on Perkins, causing “possible nerve damage in his left arm and a bulging disc in his lumbar spine.”

The casino argues in court filings that it was a piece of glass estimated to weigh five pounds. The casino’s lawyers say Perkins’ injuries could have come from previous accidents. Perkins’ workman’s compensation claims include a spinal injury in Ohio in 1991, a back injury in Georgia in 1998 from falling off a ladder and an injury to his left hand from a door hitting him in 2007, according to documents filed by the casino.

“Mr. Perkins failed to mention these six workman’s compensation claims at his deposition or in his discovery responses,” the casino said in court records.

The casino also said Perkins once sued a Big Lots store in Tennessee based on allegations that he was hurt by plastic toolboxes falling off a shelf.

“Mr. Perkins gave a deposition in the Big Lots case and testified that he had never been injured while working other than pulling a muscle in his left shoulder one time,” the casino’s lawyers wrote in court filings. “Mr. Perkins further denied ever falling off a ladder and denied that he filed a workers’ compensation claim for his injury. Therefore, Mr. Perkins has not only perjured himself in one case but also in a previous lawsuit.”