John Deere dismissed as defendant in trial over delimber

BANGOR – The John Deere Co. was dismissed as a defendant in a jury trial Tuesday in which a Medway woodsman seeks damages, claiming a delimber he bought for $220,000 malfunctioned almost from the start culminating in a metal fracture two years after he bought it that rendered it virtually useless.

Jay McLaughlin seeks $285,000 in lost income and other costs related to the equipment breakdown.

He claims breach of warranty, among other allegations in a lawsuit being played out at U.S. District Court in Bangor.

An eight-member, all-male jury is hearing evidence in the trial, which completed its second day Tuesday. Maine’s chief U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby is presiding.

Hornby’s decision to dismiss the Deere company leaves Denharco Inc., a Canadian firm, as the only defendant . The firm manufactured the delimber, which then was mounted on a John Deere chassis.

While McLaughlin’s son, Lee McLaughlin, operated the delimber on Jan. 22, 1999, a metal plate supporting a 50-foot boom that grabs felled trees separated from the chassis, causing the boom to collapse toward the right side.

Had the 20,000-pound boom swung the opposite way it most likely would have crushed the cab and its occupant, according to court testimony.

The trial pits a northern Maine entrepreneur against an international heavy equipment manufacturer. The potential for high earnings and the potential for danger both can be found in working in Maine woods, according to information brought out at the civil trial.

McLaughlin and his wife, Ellen McLaughlin, also run a trucking company in addition to a logging company. They also own and operate the Gateway Inn in Medway.

Jay McLaughlin owns close to $1 million in trucks, skidders and other machinery, but the money lost with the faulty delimber could threaten his business unless it is recovered, he said on Monday.

McLaughlin testified Monday that he bought the delimber from a Fort Kent firm. He had verbal assurance that the machine’s warranty would extend well beyond two years, McLaughlin testified. The Fort Kent firm is not part of the lawsuit.

But the defense, represented by Bangor attorney Paul Chaiken, claims the machine had a one-year warranty and that McLaughlin knew about it.

Through his attorney, Patrick Hunt, McLaughlin claims his signature was forged on the one-year warranty paper. He bought the delimber in December 1997.

Defense attorneys say their clients deny the forgery charge. Chaiken said outside court Tuesday that he has “proof” McLaughlin received the one-year warranty in the mail.

On Monday, McLaughlin denied ever seeing the warranty until it was presented to him during a deposition in preparation for the trial.

Portland attorney Harold Friedman, representing John Deere Co., said he was pleased with the judge’s decision to dismiss his client.

The John Deere products are known for their quality and Friedman said he was “confident we would be exonerated.” The company is not sued a lot. “They’re not a client that keeps me busy,” Friedman said.

Wrapping up his case, plaintiff’s attorney Hunt called on expert witnesses.

Herbert Crosby, a mechanical engineering technology professor at the University of Maine, testified over defense objection that had the boom been smaller and the chassis bigger the metal failure could have been prevented.

Bangor accountant Daniel Ryan totaled McLaughlin’s lost revenues at $285,000. He said the machine operated at a little more than 60 percent efficiency on average. Mark Kneeland, a heavy equipment salesman from Camden, said the delimber could be salvaged for $15,000.

As the defense began its case, two former employees of McLaughlin’s testified that Lee McLaughlin operated the delimber in a way that could have contributed to the breakdown.

Richard Kelley of LaGrange said Lee McLaughlin often hit piles of wood or branches with the delimber boom. George Sibley of Maxfield said he saw Jay McLaughlin load wood onto pulp trucks with the delimber, a function it was not built for. Kelley said he left McLaughlin’s employ but not in a friendly manner. Sibley said he left after suffering a broken neck.

The trial continues Wednesday.