U.S. District Court in Harrisonburg 2008: As one of three co-counsels for Mr. Shifflett, I had a significant role in this complex trial. Mr. Shifflett was an electrician working on the construction of the Middle River Correctional Facility. He went into the main power room, on a cold January morning. There was no heat and limited lighting. He saw an un-connected ground wire in one of the electrical utility cabinets. He tested the wire to determine if it was under current. It was not. He took hold of the wire, but it slipped from his hand and sprang back into and further up inside the cabinet striking the main power busses. That contact caused an arc flash explosion estimated at 35,000 degrees. Mr. Shifflett suffered immediate third degree burns from his waist up. He had also inhaled the heat and damaged his lungs and vocal cords. He spent months hospitalized and in rehabilitation. It was determined by an electrical engineering expert that the engineering firm that designed the safety shut-off settings had used the wrong settings and that resulted in the horrific explosion and subsequent injuries to Mr. Shifflett.
At trial, the defense argued that Mr. Shifflett had been negligent; that he had not worn the protective gear required by OSHA and that he should not be able to recover anything. The jury first had to determine the fault in the accident. It only took 50 minutes for the jury to determine that the defendant was the sole cause of the accident and that Mr. Shifflett was not negligent. The next morning, the third day of trial, the case was settled for $4.75 million.