John and Jane Doe v. Red Pool Manufacturing and others
- Resolution Date:
- July 1998
- Practice Areas:
- Products Liability, Head and Spinal Cord Injuries
- Synopsis:
- On April 5, 1997, John Doe was cleaning the pool filter at his home in Lafayette, California. Following the instructions attached to the label on the pool filter he disassembled, cleaned, and re-assembled the pool filter. After turning the pool filter back on, he went into his residence and then returned to check the filter system. While he was leaning over the pool filter canister, it exploded with over 10,000 lbs. of force. The canister hit John Doe in the head and caused him to suffer a fractured skull, fracture to the eye orbit, fracture of two front teeth, right temporal lobe brain injury, brain stem injury, trauma to the cervical vertebrae and facial lacerations. The firm contended that the pool filter's defective design trapped air in a pressurized vessel, which in turn compressed the air. The pool filter system could have utilized alternative designs that would have prevented the accident. Plaintiffs also alleged that the warning labels were insufficient since they failed to identify the hazard or provide appropriate instruction on how to avoid the danger of injury. Red Pool Manufacturing admitted that it had knowledge of the hazard. Plaintiffs further alleged that the defendant negligently failed to conduct a retrofit campaign or warning campaign after they became aware of several other exploding pool filters. Plaintiffs were able to obtain information from the Consumer Product Safety Commission that demonstrated defendant's ongoing monitoring of incidents of exploding pool filters and injuries. John Doe had been working as a corporate executive at the time of the accident. He was removed by the board of directors due to his inability to perform his job. The matter settled before trial.
- Attorneys:
-
William Veen
Kevin Lancaster
Cynthia McGuinn
Eustace de Saint Phalle - Resolution:
- $1.6 Million