A Yakima, Washington-based man has filed a complaint against Canadian Solar after 24 solar panels, weighing nearly one ton in total, allegedly fell on top of him and caused major bodily harm.

Patrick Gibbons has requested a jury trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. Co-plaintiffs in the complaint include Gibbons’ wife, Lori, and AG Products International, an agriculture marketing and analysis company owned by Gibbons. In the filing, AG Products is described as “engaged in the business of brokering solar industry components, agrochemicals and food commodities.”

The accident occurred in August 2023, after solar panels purchased by Gibbons and AG Products were being unloaded at Puterbaugh Farms, a hops grower in Yakima Valley that was building solar canopies on its property. Puterbaugh Farms, also known as Hops Direct, worked with Gibbons and AG Products to purchase, deliver, unload, unpack and de-palletize the solar panels, and to instruct the farm’s staff on how to install them.

Gibbons purchased 155 Canadian Solar panels through distributor Surplus Solar Products. The 655-W BiHiKu7 bifacial panels were shipped to Puterbaugh Farms around Aug. 3 on five or six pallets.

Hops Direct shared this photo of one of the completed solar canopies on Facebook on Aug. 22, 2024.

Gibbons alleges that the pallets were arranged with 31 modules stacked vertically in portrait orientation. The court filing does not claim that Surplus Solar Products repackaged the Canadian Solar modules. He also alleges that Canadian Solar shipped the panels vertically on pallets to “reduce shipping costs and increase shipping efficiency and capacity” amid supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Solar Power World reported around the same time that more companies were packaging panels vertically but in landscape orientation, which kept the weight balanced on the panel’s longest side.

After the panels arrived at the construction site, Gibbons says he waited a few days before unpacking them and reading Canadian Solar’s unpackaging instructions. According to the complaint, the instructions “recognized the need for specialized stabilization equipment when unloading vertically palletized solar panels.” Gibbons claims Canadian Solar developed an “unpacking rack” that appears prominently in unpacking diagrams and illustrations, but did not provide the device or warn him not to proceed without it.

On the day of the accident, Gibbons and an owner of Puterbaugh Farms removed seven panels from one pallet without incident. Gibbons then alleges that he heard a “cracking” noise while standing near the vertical panels, after which the remaining 24 panels fell on top of him. The BiHiKu7 panel data sheet is no longer listed on Canadian Solar’s website, but the company’s largest panels weigh an average of 80 lbs. each, which would mean nearly 1,900 lbs. allegedly landed on Gibbons.

Puterbaugh Farms workers were able to lift enough panels to move Gibbons out from underneath them. He required immediate trauma care and was transported to a nearby hospital. According to the complaint, Gibbons suffered severe injuries, including internal bleeding, bladder damage and a pelvis fracture. He spent five days in an intensive care unit and underwent surgery that placed nine bone screws and a steel plate.

The Gibbons legal team retained an expert in “wood crate and pallet design and construction,” who concluded that the packaging used to ship the solar panels was defective, alleging that the lumber used in the pallets was of inferior quality and that the nails were too narrow and too short.

The complaint says the packaging system was defective and unstable and that Canadian Solar’s warnings and instructions were inadequate. Gibbons is seeking damages for medical care, lost income, physical pain, emotional distress and disability.

In emails attached as exhibits to the filing, Gibbons discussed Canadian Solar’s shipping and handling procedures with a Canadian Solar employee and requested that the solar panels be palletized horizontally, describing them as “tipsy while unloading.” The email exchange is dated Aug. 21, allegedly 10 days after the accident.

Solar Power World has reached out to the parties involved for comment and will update if statements are provided.