Dauphin County Courthouse
HARRISBURG, Pa. – The wife of a mechanic who was trapped in an automatic feed trough and killed in 2025 is suing the company that manufactured it.
Christina Blanco-Estrada filed a lawsuit Oct. 8 in the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas against Tecno Poultry Systems, which makes the machine used by her late husband Fernando Estrada-Moreno at Hillandale Farms.
Estrada-Moreno, 61, was fixing a water leak when he was “crushed” by the feed cart, the lawsuit says. It also names the company that installed the machine as a defendant.
“Defendants failed to ensure that the subject product was installed with reasonable and necessary safety devices to protect workers from known crushing and entrapment hazards,” the complaint says.
“At all relevant times hereto, Defendants knew or had reason to know that the subject product was dangerous for use at the time of installation, as it lacked reasonable and necessary safety devices to protect workers from known crushing and entrapment hazards.”
A deputy coroner found Estrada-Moreno unresponsive and trapped inside the trough, prompting investigations by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the State Police.
The machine at issue is the Tecno Uniplus poultry feeding and housing system and was installed by J.V. Installation. The lawsuit claims it was dangerous because it lacked safety devices like safeguards that alert workers when the feed cart was moving.
The defendants were “aware of the potential for workers to become crushed and/or trapped by the feed cart,” the suit says. It makes claims for negligence, strict liability, breach of warranties and wrongful death.
Bradley Smith of Galfand Berger filed the lawsuit.
