Son sues over dad's death in workplace

This photo from TOSHA shows the machine at TAG Manufacturing where Larry Chubbs fell through paneling on a catwalk was killed. The arrow points to the panel that became dislodged.

The son of a man who was killed in a grisly incident at a local manufacturing company last year filed a $3 million wrongful death lawsuit Friday against the company.

Larry Chubbs, 54, was killed at TAG Manufacturing when a metal-grating floor panel he was walking on gave way, according to the lawsuit in Hamilton County Circuit Court.

Chubbs fell into a machine called the Big Blaster, where an auger ground and amputated his legs to his torso. He died of extreme blood loss at the scene.

Workers noticed him missing from a morning meeting and found him in the machine with the fallen panel.

Frederick Chubbs, Larry's son, is the administrator of his estate and filed the lawsuit with local attorney Lloyd Stanley against TAG.

Stanley declined to comment on the pending lawsuit Friday.

Mike Carter, legal counsel for TAG, said when contacted Friday he had not yet seen the lawsuit but would review it and respond accordingly.

"It's a complicated legal matter," he said. "It was a horrible situation."

In November, the Tennessee Department of Labor fined TAG $16,000 for safety violations in connection with Chubb's death.

The state examiner claimed that none of the panels on the catwalk was welded, bolted or bracketed in place, according to Chattanooga Times Free Press archives.

In the lawsuit Frederick Chubbs alleges that TAG failed to properly install, maintain and repair the bar grating floor panels, which resulted in his father's death.