$6M Jury Award in Oregon Agriculture Equipment Injury

A Multnomah County jury has awarded more than $6 million to a 21-year-old Oregon agricultural worker who was paralyzed from the waist down when his torso was crushed in a hay bale-cutting machine.

The jury found that Double Press Manufacturing, a California company that makes the equipment, was 60 percent responsible for injuries suffered by Zeferino Vasquez on March 31, 2010, in Junction City, just north of Eugene.

The Oregonian reports the jury also determined Vasquez didn’t press a control-panel button that would have prevented the machine from moving while he was inside removing some jammed hay.

Double Press Manufacturing’s attorneys didn’t return calls for comment after the jury decision was read on Friday.

After nearly two weeks of trial, jurors spent about three hours deliberating before reaching a verdict.