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Wednesday, February 10, 1999     Page: 14A

WILKES-BARRE- No one saw how Linda King lost three of her fingers in a
diaper-making machine, but she had been warned that the device was broken and
dangerous, an attorney said Tuesday.
   
King filed suit after the Oct. 11, 1989, accident that occurred while she
was working at the Procter & Gamble Co. plant in Mehoopany. Opening statements
in the case were heard Tuesday in Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas.
    King filed the suit against Cincinnati, Ohio-based Procter & Gamble. Also
listed as defendants are the machine’s designer and manufacturer, Belcan
Industries and Barth Industries of Cleveland, Ohio, respectively.
   
N.C. Stauffer Industries, which manufactured a guard for the machine, also
is named in the suit. King alleges it is at fault because a piece of the guard
on the machine was broken and did not protect her from injury.
   
King’s attorney, Charles Shaffer, said Tuesday that the machine was
designed and manufactured defectively. He said King put her hand near a roller
to look up at a glue nozzle and felt a “tingle” in her hand. She looked down
and saw three fingers hanging.
   
Veins and ligaments were taken from other areas of King’s body to repair
her fingers. But the fingers turned black, began to smell and had to be
removed.
   
Shaffer said King has suffered from depression and was rebuffed by Procter
& Gamble when she sought another job.
   
Attorney Larry Turner, who is representing N.C. Stauffer Industries, told
jurors that evidence will show King knew about the hazard a week before the
accident.
   
Turner said King has not suffered much because of the injury,
   
Testimony will continue today before Judge Mark Ciavarella.