FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A Moorhead, Minnesota, man is suing Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative for injuries he suffered when he was severely burned while performing electrical work at the company's sugar beet processing plant in Wahpeton.
Zachary White says in the federal complaint filed Friday that the company created dangerous conditions that led to the November 2014 incident. White says he was burned on up to 49 percent of his body and suffered disfiguring burns to his face, chest, arms, legs and back.
An attorney for the cooperative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Court documents show that White and a co-worker were working on wiring while on an elevated lift when a tank of scalding hot water overflowed on the two of them. The two workers say the hot liquid caused the lift to short circuit and they were forced to jump 15 feet to the concrete floor, causing additional injuries.
"By not monitoring the premises, defendant was oblivious to the unfolding crisis in the unattended boiler house," the suit says.
The complaint seeks at least $75,000 in damages for physical and emotional pain and suffering.
The cooperative is owned by approximately 500 shareholders who grow about 115,000 acres of sugar beets in the Red River Valley.
