A Maine family is suing Shaw’s Supermarkets after a man died months after he was crushed by 50-pound bags of salt.
Randall “Randy” Rackliffe, of Saco, died Sept. 12, eight months after an unstable pallet of water bottles and rock salt shifted in a semi-trailer, crushing him on Jan. 18, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court of Maine in Portland.
Rackliffe, 62, spent those intervening months hospitalized, the lawsuit said. It seeks unspecified damages for Rackliffe’s medical expenses, mental anguish, pain, suffering and premature death.
His sister, Joya Kim Maynard, is suing Shaw’s as a representative of Rackliffe’s estate. The lawsuit alleges Shaw’s failed to meet the standard of care, causing the wrongful death of Rackliffe.
Shaw’s parent company, Albertsons Companies, did not respond to a request for comment.
“[Rackliffe] took immense pride in his work,” Maynard’s attorney, Taylor Asen, said. “His injuries were among the most horrific I’ve seen in my career. I wouldn’t wish the months of pain and suffering he endured on anyone. His suffering and death were entirely preventable. His family is determined to hold Shaw’s accountable for the devastating harm it caused and to ensure that Shaw’s makes safety a priority.”
Rackliffe was a truck driver for Brown Dog Carries and Logistics, which moves freight for Shaw’s, the lawsuit said. He picked up a trailer loaded by Shaw’s employees in Wells on Jan. 18.
He drove the trailer to a Raynham, Massachusetts, store where Shaw’s employees started unloading the pallets, which had 50-pound bags of Morton’s SafeT-Salt stacked on top of shrink-wrapped cases of bottled water, according to the lawsuit.
Rackliffe was standing in the trailer, holding a pallet of paper products steady so employees could remove the rock salt and water. As Shaw’s employees moved the pallets, the 50-pound rock salt bags tipped over and crushed Rackliffe, the lawsuit said.
Shaw’s failed to have procedures in place to ensure goods were stacked and unloaded in a safe manner, and failed to appropriately secure goods to pallets, the lawsuit said.
Rackliffe was fatally injured because of Shaw’s negligence, the lawsuit said.
Rackliffe had two daughters and four grandchildren, his obituary said. It thanked the staff at Maine Medical Center for giving him a fighting chance.
“Given Dad’s resilience and strong will, this is not the outcome we ever anticipated,” the obituary said. “He showed tremendous strength and fought incredibly hard every single day. Anyone who knew Dad knows that he was bullheaded, self-sufficient, and not one to give up easily. He fought this battle with the same determination that carried him through life.”