KOEHRING CRANES & EXCAVATORS v. Livingston

On April 15, 1988, Dwight Livingston injured his leg while attempting to raise the gantry of a Koehring model 455S lattice-boom crane at a construction site in Coffeeville, Alabama. A gantry is the A-frame structure on the rear of a crane that supports the suspension cables running from the crane to the boom; the purpose of the gantry is to control the boom height. NewMc Construction Company, Livingston's employer, owned the crane.

When this kind of crane is transported, the boom is disassembled and the gantry is lowered to permit it to clear obstructions such as bridge overpasses. When the…