A Fayette County, Pennsylvania woman whose use of a hair relaxer left her partially bald admitted that she hadn’t read the instructions, but said Optimum Salon Care Defy Breakage No-Lye Relaxer is in any case too dangerous to be allowed on the market. Judge Thomas Hardiman, writing for a Third Circuit panel, rejected her contentions that the product was defective or, in the alternative, that a reasonable consumer would not have heeded the label warning and directions for use. [Matt Miller, PennLive; Nicholas Malfitano, Penn Record; Chandler v. L’Oreal]
Posts Tagged ‘failure to warn’
Connecticut SC backs $41.7M verdict against school for failing to warn of tick bites
The Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled “that schools have a duty to warn parents and students of potential hazards associated with field trips – in particular, dangerous insect bites – and let stand a $41.7 million verdict to a student who was disabled after developing encephalitis from a tick bite while on a school trip to China.” The Second Circuit had certified the question to the Connecticut court as part of the case of Munn v. Hotchkiss School. [Edmund H. Mahony/Hartford Courant, more] “According to the CDC, Munn was the first reported case of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in a U.S. traveler to China.” [Jennifer Morgan DelMonico, Murtha Cullina Appellate Insights]
Japan: families sue over failure to warn of volcano eruption
“Twelve people from five families of those killed in the 2014 eruption of Mount Ontake are set to sue the state and the Nagano Prefectural Government, demanding a total of 150 million yen in compensation, it has been learned.” The suit will argue that the Japan Meteorological Agency failed to raise the alert level for the volcano despite an increase in temblors, “partly on the grounds that the temblors were not accompanied by crustal movements.” [Mainichi]
Bears in Yellowstone: eat, sue, warn
“The decision was reversed on appeal, but it spooked the Park Service into trying to lawyer-proof Yellowstone. Walker’s folks insisted that there was no way their son could have known about the danger of bears, or hiking off trails, or pitching camp in the middle of nowhere, or leaving food and trash next to his tent. So officials in Yellowstone set out to make sure that you’d have to be dumb as a rock not to understand the risks of the park. And they got the job done.” [Jonathan Last, Weekly Standard]
Don’t get cozy with a laptop adapter and fall asleep
A California woman claims in her lawsuit that her “husband was using his Apple laptop when [she] fell asleep with her arm on top of the adapter for approximately 40 minutes. She woke up groggy, felt ‘itchy,’ and went to bed. The next morning she felt pain and discovered a ‘one-inch boil’ on her arm.” She’s suing Apple for not adequately warning that the adapters get hot and shouldn’t be left in contact with bare skin for extended periods. [Nick Farr, Abnormal Use]
“Family sues Bronx Zoo after child swallows souvenir penny”
“Ethan’s mother, Kelly Yi, said there was no warning about the dangers of swallowing the coins.” [NJ.com]
Ireland: judge rebukes “compensation culture gone mad”
A court has awarded costs against a Dublin family that sued a restaurant for not warning that if they allowed their two-year-old to put her finger down the metal lid of a sugar dispenser, she might have trouble pulling it out again. The balky lid had to be cut off at a hospital. [Mirror]
Suit: lily-seller should have warned of toxicity to cats
“The flower was packaged with a warning about not being for human consumption and about the risk of staining clothing, but there was nothing about potential harm to cats, said [Charley Gee, a] Southeast Portland lawyer.” A pet cat chewed the lily’s leaves — which are toxic to felines — and required expensive veterinary care. The suit calls lilies unreasonably dangerous and says they should be labeled with cat-specific warnings. [Oregonian]
“Colorado jury awards $11.5M to family in helmet lawsuit”
“A Colorado jury has awarded $11.5 million in a lawsuit originally brought against helmet maker Riddell and several high school administrators and football coaches over brain injuries suffered by a teenager in 2008.” While the jury rejected the plaintiff’s claim of design defect, it accepted the theory that the helmet maker should have done more to warn of concussions. “The jury assessed 27 percent of the fault for Rhett Ridolfi’s injuries, making the company responsible for paying $3.1 million of the damages.” Riddell has been hit with a wave of lawsuits from both school and professional football players. [AP, Denver Post, earlier](& Coyote)
Product warnings in English only
Should a product manufacturer be held liable for not warning in other languages that are foreseeably spoken/read by some of its end users? How about if it marketed its product in some of those languages? [Nick Farr, Abnormal Use]