PARIS – An Oxford County Superior Court judge has awarded $21,000 in damages to a man injured while working at a farm sawmill in North Waterford.

Judge Ellen Gorman ruled May 19 that Wallace Jones did not provide his employees with a safe workplace when Adrien Morin Sr. was working at the mill in March 1997. Gorman ruled that Jones was liable for all damages and ruled against Morin’s accusation that his parents, Richard and Frances Jones, should also be considered liable because they shared ownership with Wallace of the 300-acre farm property.

The ruling came after a two-day civil trial at the South Paris court in April.

Morin, of Bryant Pond, lost the tip of his middle finger while clearing a jam of wood slabs from a moving belt and pulley system. He filed suit nearly six years later, on Feb. 24, 2003.

The vibrating conveyor where the jam occurred did not have a guard as required under federal safety standards.

“Although the missing guard may have been obvious to all, Wallace Jones knew that his employees were still likely to come into contact with the hazard at a time when their attention was divided,” Gorman wrote. Like his father Richard Jones, 82, who built the sawmill in 1960, Wallace made changes to the mill as he went along to make the mill more efficient, Gorman said.

“Given those changes, and the transient nature of his employees, (Wallace Jones) should have been vigilant about safety measures,” Gorman wrote.

Gorman said in her order that there was conflicting testimony during the April trial about the location and number of “shut-off” switches available to workers at the mill.

Jones said Morin had access to a shut-off switch, and should have used it, but didn’t. Morin maintained he did not have immediate access to such a switch and that the belts were not shut down to clear a jam in any case.

“His job, as he understood it, included keeping the slabs moving smoothly along the vibrating belt,” said Gorman of Morin. “Clearing jams was not an emergency; it was an everyday occurrence.”

Gorman’s award included a total of $10,948 in lost earnings and medical costs, and $10,000 for pain and suffering resulting from his permanent impairment.