Glove Coaters Inc. and the man who sued the company for negligence and faulty advertising following a glass-related accident in Texas last year have agreed to settle the case.
According to papers recently filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Anthony Lopez, Glove Coaters Inc. and the Michigan-based company’s individual owners have reached “an amicable agreement” that averts the need for further litigation.
However, final terms of the deal have yet to be finalized, says Andrew Dunlap, the Houston-based attorney representing Lopez.
“We’re still trying to formalize a few final things,” says Dunlap, declining further comment. “We’ve settled the lawsuit, but we’re still trying to finalize different aspects of the case.”
John-Robert Skrabanek, the Austin, Texas-based attorney representing Glove Coaters Inc., could not be reached for comment at press time.
Lopez was in Houston working for Craftsman Fabricated Glass in July 2012 when he claims that he cut his hand on a large piece of glass while wearing gloves made by Glove Coaters Inc. and suffered irreparable injuries.
In a lawsuit filed in February 2013, Lopez alleged that the gloves he was wearing at the time of the accident were “defectively-designed and manufactured and fraudulently marked ‘safety glove’ ” on the company website.
Citing extensive damage from a severed tendon and nerve damage to his dominant hand, he sought damages of “substantially more than $75,000,” according to court documents.
Glove Coaters Inc. and its four individual owners – Gene Tassie, Donald Tassie, Emily Tassie and William Tassie – denied any liability from the outset for what they termed an “unavoidable” accident.
The company unsuccessfully tried to have the case dismissed at the outset, saying that it was Lopez’s employer who was responsible for selecting “appropriate hand protection.”
Lopez alleged that the accident took place “on or about July 3, 2012” when he and several co-workers were standing at the receiving end of the glass-cutting machine. The glass had already passed through when it collided with Lopez’s cut-resistant, glass-handling glove, resulting in “severe personal injuries and serious bodily impairment,” according to court records.
Glove Coaters had been adamant, however, that the gloves were not “in a defective condition or unreasonably dangerous,” according to court papers, and denied that any of Lopez’s injuries were the result of “act of omission” on the company’s part.
Both sides had sought a jury trial to resolve the matter.
