Employee got fungal infection diagnosis after working in swallow-infested facility
In a recent case, an employee filed a tort lawsuit alleging that the employers’ actions relating to a bird infestation and bird feces accumulation in his former workplace were a substantial factor that caused his histoplasmosis.
Braaten Electric, Inc. employed the plaintiff as an electrical automation foreman starting in 2004. Potential Design, Inc., one of the defendants in the case, hired Braaten as the subcontractor in charge of electrical installations for two successive silo construction projects at a pistachio processing facility in Firebaugh, California.
Another defendant, Wonderful Pistachios and Almonds, LLC, owned and operated the nut facility. Flocks of migrating swallows plagued the facility, roosted under the roof of an open pole barn, and left sizable accumulations of bird feces.
The plaintiff worked at the facility between 2012 and 2014. He lived onsite in his recreational vehicle (RV), oversaw the electrical work associated with the construction projects, and usually went home to Bakersfield during weekends.
Sometime after ending his work at the facility, the plaintiff received a diagnosis for histoplasmosis, a fungal infection which had spread to his brain and which led to permanent impairments.
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