Girard man refiles injury lawsuit

WARREN -- A Girard man has refiled a lawsuit against the Liberty school district and two companies over injuries he received while participating in spring baseball practice in the high school gymnasium in 2003.
Jamail E. Johnson, of Shannon Road, filed the suit this week in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. The companies it names are Cincinnati Floor Co. Inc. of Cincinnati, a flooring installer; and Robbins Inc. of Cincinnati, a flooring manufacturer.
The suit says the school district failed to use reasonable care in maintaining the floor and failed to provide adequate warning to Johnson about the unsafe flooring.
Liberty Superintendent Larry Prince declined to comment on the suit.
The suit says Johnson was injured March 4, 2003, when the floor buckled and splintered, puncturing Johnson's legs and thighs, causing severe injuries to those and other parts of his body, resulting in pain and permanent damage.
Atty. Mark Gervelis of Poland, who filed the suit, said that when Johnson slid across the floor while fielding a ground ball, a piece of the floor about 11 inches long and 1 inch square broke off in his thigh. Doctors later surgically removed it, he said.
The suit, which seeks at least $25,000 in damages from each of the defendants, says Cincinnati Floor Co. negligently installed the floor at the gym. It says Robbins Inc. made flooring materials that were defective.
The suit had to be refiled, Gervelis said, because of problems with getting an expert witness to testify at the trial. The suit was dismissed March 2.