Four-Year-Old Was Electrocuted by Lamp Each Defendant Claimed Other Was Seller

From the April 24, 2000 Missouri Lawyers Weekly.

The plaintiffs were the parents of a 4-year-old boy who was electrocuted by a lamp that had faulty wiring. They sued two lamp distributors.

The boy was electrocuted on Nov. 10, 1995, as he was lying on a metal air conditioning vent while playing with his younger brother. A sheriff who investigated the death reported that the lamp appeared to be working properly, and was unable to determine how the boy received the shock. Because the lamp plug was pulled partially from the socket, he speculated that the boy might have touched the metal prongs of the plug. Approximately two years later, the boy’s father received a strong electric shock when he touched the lamp and the vent at the same time. An investigation subsequently concluded that the lamp had been defectively manufactured and had full-line voltage in the frame that would cause a shock to a person who touched it while in contact with a well-grounded object.

The plaintiffs filed suit against two lamp distributors, Catalina Industries and Grandrich Corp., contending that the boy received the fatal shock when he touched the lamp while laying on the vent. The plaintiffs noted that the burn patterns from the boy’s body were consistent with the plaintiff’s theory that he was shocked while lying on the vent, and were inconsistent with the original conclusion that he was shocked when he touched the plug with his fingers.

At trial, it was stipulated by all parties that the lamp was defectively manufactured and caused the boy’s death. It was also stipulated that one or the other defendant sold the lamp to the store where the plaintiffs bought the lamp.

Each defendant claimed the other sold the lamp to the store. Grandrich Corp. contended that the lamp was sold 11 months after it had stopped distributing the lamps to the retailer, and that it was able to account for all of the lamps it had bought from the Taiwanese manufacturer. The jury concluded that Catalina Industries was the seller and awarded the plaintiffs a $15 million verdict.

The manufacturer and the retailer had filed for bankruptcy and gone out of business before trial.

Type of Action: Products liability
Type of Injuries: Death
Verdict or Settlement: $15 million verdict
Allocation of Fault: 100 percent to defendant Catalina Industries Inc.
Last Offer: $500,00
Last Demand: $3 million
Attorney for Plaintiffs: Neil Chanter, The Strong-Garner-Bauer, Springfield