Matthew Scott Keller v. International

This appeal is from an adverse jury verdict returned against plaintiffs, son and parents, in their claims for damages from an injury sustained by the son in a lawn mower accident. The judgment is affirmed. On October 10, 1974, plaintiff Matthew Keller, then six years of age, was playing with other youngsters in the yard of neighbors when defendant Carl Looman arrived to mow the grass. Looman was using his 1968 Cub Cadet tractor with lawn mowing attachment, both manufactured by defendant International Harvester. In one of his turns about the yard, Looman drove the mower past where Matthew was at play some fifteen feet distant. According to Matthew, as the mower came by, an object from the mower struck him in the eye. He felt immediate pain and withdrew an object which he testified was a blade of grass. Evidence of serious injury was immediately apparent and Matthew was taken to a hospital for treatment. In the following months, efforts to save the eye proved unsuccessful and the eye was surgically removed in August, 1975.