Dangerous and Defective Products – Sample Cases
… A 32 year old man purchased a reconditioned electric range for his home. The burners of the range began to malfunction. The store sent technicians to make repairs. A technician told the man and his family he needed additional parts but said they could continue to use the range. That evening, when the man leaned against the range, he was electrocuted. He left a widow and a child. After extensive discovery and litigation, the case settled shortly before trial.
… A 48 year old machine operator was feeding a piece of steel into a bar straightener when his glove got caught on the steel. His arm was twisted behind his back, snapping the bone completely in half below his elbow. The bar straightener had been manufactured 62 years earlier. The bar straightener was unsafe because it lacked essential safety devices such as an automatic feed device and an appropriate shut off. After extensive litigation, the case was successfully settled in a private mediation.
… A 32 year old woman learned that her mother had taken a drug called DES (Diethylstilbestrol) while pregnant. DES was marketed from the late 1940’s into the 1960’s in the mistaken belief it prevented miscarriages and premature deliveries. The woman had a misshapened uterus as a result of her mother’s ingestion of the DES. This condition presented the risk of infertility, miscarriage and other birthing problems. Fortunately, the pharmacy records from the mother’s purchase of the DES many years before were still available. These records, by the process of elimination, definitively identified the manufacturer of the DES pills. A lawsuit for the woman was initially dismissed because she had waited too long before seeking an attorney. The lawsuit was later settled while on appeal.
… A 23 year old factory worker was performing maintenance on a plastic injection molding machine when the machine unexpectedly energized catching his hand in the moving parts. He lost most of his thumb and several fingers of his right hand. The machine had been defectively designed because it lacked a proper safety switch. A lawsuit was settled on the eve of trial.
… A 35 year old office worker fell to the floor when he leaned back and his chair broke. The office worker severely injured his back. At trial, there was conflicting evidence regarding whether the office worker was leaning back normally in the chair. The jury found in favor of the chair’s seller. On appeal, however, the Superior Court, in an important decision, determined that the jury should have been instructed that the office worker could win his case by merely showing that the chair malfunctioned during normal use. After the trial court’s decision was reversed, the case settled while a new trial was pending.
. . . A 55 year-old building custodian was waiting in her car at a traffic light. A driverless car rolled out of a nearby parking lot, over a hill and crashed into the custodian’s stopped car. The crash triggered a prior seizure disorder. The owner of the driverless car, claimed that she put it in park before leaving to do some shopping. Investigation showed that this model of car had problems with its parking gear, permitting the key to be removed from the ignition even when the car was not in park. After investigation and depositions the car manufacturer settled the claim.
. . . A 54 year old maintenance foreman in a copper mill was standing next to a copper coil using an overhead crane. A millwright was moving a nearby electric utility cart, similar in design to a golf cart. The millwright intended to drive in reverse. Because the forward/reverse switch was poorly designed, the cart was still in forward gear. After he pushed the throttle, the cart lunged forward, crushing the foreman’s leg. There was extensive pre-trial discovery. Several engineering experts examined the utility cart. The case settled shortly before trial at a private mediation conference. The foreman’s worker’s compensation claim was also settled favorably at the same mediation.
… A 58-year-old district manager for a battery company was using a brand new miter saw to cut molding for his doorways at home. As he was pulling down the saw for his second cut, the metal base broke in half. The rest of the saw with the blade still rotating came down on his hand, slicing off a piece of his left thumb. A lawsuit for this unsafe and defective product was filed against the national chain that sold this power tool. The case settled after documents were exchanged by the parties.
… A two-year-old boy lived in an apartment with his parents. All of the windows were covered by vinyl mini blinds purchased by the previous tenant from a national discount store. The mini blinds, imported from China, had lead added to stabilize the plastic. When the blinds were hung in a window, sunlight would cause the lead to degrade, forming a fine coating of lead dust. The two year old spent a lot of time looking out the windows and would place his hands on the blinds. During a routine screening, he was diagnosed with lead poisoning of his blood. The Health Department found that the surfaces of the mini blinds had a lead dust level almost 14 times the federal standards. The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission issued a press release about the danger of imported vinyl mini blinds. The two year old developed significant mental and developmental impairments. The national discount chain was sued for importing and selling this dangerous product. The case settled for a significant sum just before jury selection. The settlement proceeds were placed in a special trust to preserve the now young man’s entitlement to state benefits.
… A 56-year-old hairdresser was shopping at a big box store. When she pulled a bottle of hand sanitizing lotion off of the shelf, it exploded, throwing lotion into her eyes. After her eye injuries healed, a claim against the store was settled out of court.
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