Digital off hook for RSIs
A federal jury rules Digital Equipment is not responsible for the injuries of nine office workers who used its keyboards.
Although so-called RSI cases against computer equipment makers have been on the wane for the past year, the trial against Digital was being watched carefully by the industry. Keyboard-related injuries are on the rise, and one plaintiff had won a $5.3 million judgment in an earlier court proceeding--one of the largest of its kind. The verdict later was set aside and the case was retried, culminating in today's decision.
The decision by the ten-person jury in Brooklyn, New York, was likely to blunt similar types of suits in the future, according to Ken King, an attorney representing Compaq Computer, which has acquired Digital.
"This verdict sends a loud and clear message to lawyers who have brought these cases that they won't be successful before jurors," said King, an attorney with Brobeck, Phleger, & Harrison in New York.
David Johnson, a Fenwick & West attorney representing technology companies who is not involved in the case, agreed.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs were not immediately available for comment.
But in closing arguments yesterday, Steven Phillips, an attorney with Levy, Phillips, & Konigsberg who is representing the plaintiffs in the case, told jurors that they need not find that the keyboards were the sole or dominant cause of the injuries, but merely one of the causes.
"As long as you find it's one factor, they're on the hook for what they did," he said.
But Digital's attorney King said hardware makers should not be held responsible.