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bionicjuiceman · Apr 11, 2007

Man Awarded $786,760 in Testicle Injury Lawsuit
Wednesday, April 11, 2007

AKRON, Ohio — A jury awarded $786,760 to an Ohio man who says he has endured years of pain and must walk bowlegged after his left testicle was struck by a broken weight-machine bar at an athletic club.

"I can barely walk, let alone run. There's a constant throbbing of pain. I mean, it's my testicle. That's a very uncomfortable spot to feel pain," said Jason Houston, 25, adding that sex is tenuous following the February 2004 injury at a local YWCA, the Akron Beacon Journal reported in its Wednesday editions.

Houston, who won the award Monday, was lifting about 150 pounds on a leg extension machine when a cable broke. That caused a center steel rod with an adjusting ball to swing 180 degrees into his groin.

Robert Meeker, the attorney who represented Houston during a weeklong civil trial, said the machine had broken twice before while in use. According to court papers, duct tape covered part of the rod.

Houston has been receiving treatment for pain since. A nerve pain blocker was installed, but that has not corrected all the pain.

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thenatural3456 · Apr 11, 2007

wow...that amount of money is definately not worth 3 years of testicle pain...

oldfella · Apr 11, 2007

In the gym industry there is NO EXCUSE for poor maintainence on equipment. If it was broken then no-one should be using it! I own a gym and inspect my machines daily! I also use all of the equipment at my gym and I do put the machines all to the test. I have installed heavier cables on my machines than the ones from the factory. I overload them when I train so I know my regulars will not be breaking anything. I have threatened gym ownre of other gym with violence when due to their neglect i use a piece of equipment, not even max stack and the fucking thing breaks. i was useing a seated cable row machine once, not the full stack when the cable snapped mid rep. Needless to say I did about three backwards flips off the machine. The cable cut the inside of my thigh and I had bruised ribs from the handle. I grabbed the handle with busted cable in tow and went straight into the owners office and told him I was going to wrap the cable around his throat and stick the handle up his ass. I was furious! I should have sued but was too angry. I say to the man who got the payout good on him! To the owners of the gym I say, get the fuck out of the business!!

thebrick · Apr 11, 2007

I saw the same thing happen that happened to you oldfella. At a gym I went to at the time, a guy was doing heavy seated cable rows and the cable snapped. He went flying off the back of the bench doing a backwards summersault onto the floor. I mean, how much does a steel cable cost anyway? Another pet peeve of mine are when the handles that fasten to the cable are so worn that there is about 1 millimeter of steel left before the thing breaks. Niiiccee!