VALPARAISO | A Valparaiso construction worker -- paralyzed when an "untrained" and "incompetent" heavy equipment operator struck him in the head with an excavator shovel and knocked him into a hole -- will get a handicapped-accessible van, a scooter and perhaps a home.

Bruce Johnson, who is in his mid-60s and currently being cared for by his sister in Florida, is getting a $2.2 million settlement from the responsible parties.

Attorney Kenneth J. Allen negotiated the settlement for Johnson after another Porter County attorney and some Chicago attorneys were unable to help him and declined the case.

"I'm very thankful to (Allen's law firm) for winning my case, especially after the Chicago lawyers all said it couldn't be won," Johnson said.

"This settlement is going to make my life easier and give me some freedom."

Allen said, "It's nice to be able to help somebody."

"It (the settlement) was all he could possibly get, and coming into it he was looking at getting nothing essentially."

Allen said injury victims generally can't sue their own employer, but rather just get workmen's compensation. Johnson and the heavy equipment operator both worked for companies owned by the same individual.

"There are exceptions to that rule (that employers can't be sued)," Allen said.

The defendants in the case were Local Service LLC; Roger Tomlinson, who controlled the job site; M.T. Broviak LLC; Roland Machinery Co.; Mark Fisher, equipment operator; and Komatsu America Corp.

Although the terms of the settlement were sealed, the facts were spelled out in court documents Allen filed Thursday to protect his client from a previous attorney. One of the attorneys is trying to collect more than $10,000 in attorney's fees even though he ended up not helping Johnson.

Johnson was struck April 14, 2004, by a 16-ton excavator operated by a man with no special training, who didn't know standard hand signals for operating heavy equipment, who was an accountant by education and who had a history of embezzlement and forgery, according to court documents. Documents also say the excavator had a broken, missing or defective side mirror.

As a result of the accident, which occurred at a residential construction site at 4407 Goodrich Road in Valparaiso, Johnson became paralyzed. He has limited use of his upper extremities.

Allen said the settlement will pay the hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills and pay for Johnson's continuing care. Before becoming a construction worker, Johnson worked at Bethlehem Steel for 36 years until it went bankrupt.

"At least this (settlement) gives him some mobility, some ability to engage in life again," Allen said.