Trial begins for Oregon teen suing over lawn mower injury

EUGENE – The civil trial has begun for an Oregon teenager who is suing her father and a lawn mower manufacturer after she lost her left leg when she was a toddler.

The Register-Guard reported a court-appointed conservator for 14-year-old Isabelle Norton is suing Kirk Norton and Deere & Co. for more than $20 million in combined damages.

Kirk Norton backed over his daughter with a riding lawn mower outside their Springfield home in May 2006.

The plaintiffs claim the lawn mower’s design prevented the avoidance of back-over injuries, and it was equipped with inadequate warnings and instructions.

Deere attorney James Brogan told the court Thursday that the machine was “designed with everything necessary to make it safe.” He suggested that the father is to blame for the injuries.