Florida Injury Lawyer Blawg
Approximately 250,000 10 and 15-liter Cooluli minifridges are being recalled over concerns of fire hazards, according to a notice published by the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission.
In a Thursday, Aug. 13, recall notice, CPSC officials said that the recalled minifridges’ were having issues with their electrician switch, which may short circuit and poses fire and burn hazards. The recalled fridges have an internal power supply and two power input ports on the back of them. The removable power cord on the product does not have a “brick” power adapter, “as is commonly used with laptop chargers,” officials said in the recall notice.
As of Friday, Aug. 21, the company has received at least 19 reports of the minifridges catching fire, sparking, smoking, and/or overheating. From these incidents, only one injury of smoke inhalation was reported. The issue has caused approximately $80,000 in property damage.
The fridges at the center of the hazard concerns include batch numbers 1535 through 1545 and 1200000 through 1202080. Thos who believe they may have purchased the recalled item may check for the model and match numbers, which are printed on a label on the inside of the product’s door. If you do have the recalled item, then consumers are instructed to stop using the product immediately and contact the company for a free power cord replacement.
Agencies such as the CPSC are in place to keep consumers safe by evaluating products on the market and reporting concerns of possible injury, reducing the unreasonable risk of injury associated with product defects.
Leesfield & Partners
Leesfield & Partners is a personal injury law firm with 50 years of experience holding corporations and manufacturers accountable for their defective products. In that time, our firm has earned a reputation as a trusted source, advocating for safety and accountability at every level of the manufacturing process. From a medical device that malfunctioned during a storm, causing the death of our client’s loved one to a furniture manufacturing company’s failure to warn of a tip-over danger that led to the death of a child, our attorneys know just how important it is to ensure that the products being used in daily life are safe for consumers.
Product liability is an area of law meant to protect consumers from defective products and the damages and injuries they can cause. Defendants that can be named in defective product lawsuits can include anyone from the manufacturer, wholesalers, retailers, and distributors. Anyone who has been injured as a result of a product’s defects may be eligible for compensation.
A plaintiff’s attorney’s argument for compensation in defective products cases can be based upon strict liability, negligence and or breach of warranty. Mostly these arguments will hinge on strict liability, meaning that the plaintiff’s attorney has to prove there is something wrong with the product their client used. These defects can include problems with how the product was made, design defects, instructions for use, failure to warn consumers about potential risks associated with use and or how the product was marketed to consumers.
Trial Attorney Bernardo Pimentel II is handling an ongoing case involving a gun manufacturer after our client suffered a horrific injury to her eye at a Florida shooting range. In that case, the backing plate of the firearm failed, causing the firing pin to be ejected and strike our client in the eye. As a result, she suffered a hematoma and eye laceration, which has left her with significant vision loss in that eye.
“Our client is an avid shooter with years of experience around firearms and even that did not prepare her for this unexpected and incredibly dangerous malfunction,” Pimentel said. “The manufacturer is liable for putting this defective weapon on the market and endangering its customers, including our client. Had she not been wearing protective eyewear, this malfunction could have been fatal.”
Previous Cases
Ira Leesfield, the firm’s Founder and Managing Partner, previously represented a 27-year-old man who was paralyzed after a horrific motorcycle crash caused by a defective kickstand. As our client was riding his motorcycle, the kickstand suddenly and erroneously engaged, causing him to spin out of control.
Mr. Leesfield obtained a $19.8 million verdict for the man and resulted in the manufacturer to redesign it’s the kickstand to prevent future injuries.
In another product liability case, Leesfield & Partners attorneys secured $10,677,000 for the wrongful death of our client’s loved one.
Previously, Leesfield & Partners attorneys obtained a confidential settlement for a family whose baby girl was killed when a car accident caused the airbag to deploy, hitting her car seat. The child restraint was gifted to the parents at their baby shower. On the box, the product was demonstrated as being used in the front seat. Following the instructions, the child’s mother placed her in the front seat in a rear-facing position. When the airbag deployed, the 8-month-old was killed.
In the early 2000s, Mr. Leesfield traveled across the U.S. representing children and their families against ATV manufacturers that marketed these vehicles as “toys.” The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported that there are about 100,000 ATV-related injuries requiring emergency room visits in the U.S. annually. Of these ATV incidents, approximately 650 people died, the data showed. Children are particularly at risk of dying or being injured in ATV accidents, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. One out of three ATV deaths and injuries requiring emergency room treatment involves a child under 16 years old. Children are especially vulnerable in these crashes because of their lack of experience operating such a vehicle and a lack of judgement that can result in them taking bigger and more dangerous risks.
“In the large majority of children’s deaths resulting from the use of an ATV, the child was not wearing a helmet,” Leesfield & Partners said in a previous blog post.
As a result of these cases, Leesfield & Partners attorneys obtained more than $10 million in verdicts and settlements for families. In many of these cases, the children were gifted the vehicles as birthday and/or holiday gifts.
Previously, the firm settled an ATV products liability case for $5 million, causing a ripple effect throughout the entire industry. This case was one of several handled by the firm that highlighted the instability of these three-wheeled vehicles. As a result, the ATV industry abandoned their previous design and added a fourth wheel.
Leesfield & Partners attorneys represented the family following the tragic death of their teenage daughter following an ATV crash. The girl, 15, was riding a recreational vehicle when she was killed.
The firm secured a $4.5 million settlement for the negligent entrustment of a recreational vehicle to a minor and the failure of the responsible parent to supervise the children.
Attorneys with the firm also secured a $2.5 million settlement amount for the family of a man who died after his ventilator malfunctioned from a power outage in the middle of the night. The backup battery for the ventilator lasted less than 10 minutes after the outage and the alarms — meant to go off and alert caregivers of an issue — failed.
Even though there were numerous other complaints to the manufacturer regarding this device that spanned a decade, neither the manufacturer nor the respiratory company took the necessary steps to address the issue or alert patients’ families.
The firm previously handled a case in which a 4-month-old baby was killed in a suffocation incident involving a juvenile product’s design defect. The firm reached a $1.1 million award for the grieving family in that case.
If you were injured in a product liability or defective product case, don’t wait. Call a Leesfield & Partners attorney today at 305-854-4900 to see if you may be eligible to make a claim.
