Products Liability Law Reporter

In December 2018, SE, 18 months, was at home with his older sisters. He walked behind the family’s water dispenser in the kitchen and pulled out an unguarded and unsecured drain plug for the hot water reservoir drain tube. This released a cascade of scalding hot water over much of SE’s body, causing him to suffer extensive second- and third-degree burns. He underwent multiple surgical procedures and skin grafting, resulting in pain, scarring, and emotional distress.

SE’s parents and SE filed suit against NWNA, which leased the water dispenser to the plaintiffs and delivered it to their home. Suit alleged that the dispenser was defective and lacked warnings about its potential to release burning hot water when the drain plug was twisted and pulled.

The plaintiffs asserted that although the defendant had incorporated a child-resistant spigot on the water dispenser, it delayed a redesign of the rear drain plug assembly for several years, despite having notice of an incident in California in which a young child suffered severe burns when she removed the plug from the same model water dispenser as the one in SE’s home. Moreover, the plaintiffs claimed, the water dispenser lacked a warning about the inadvertent release of scalding water from the dispenser’s readily accessible drain plug.

The defense reportedly argued that SE’s parents were responsible for his injuries.

The parties settled at mediation for $48 million.

Citation: SE v. NWNA, Dec. Term 2019 No. 3519 (Pa. Ct. Com. Pl. Phila. Cnty. Oct. 6, 2023).

Plaintiff counsel: AAJ member Alan M. Feldman, Daniel J. Mann, and Edward S. Goldis, all of Philadelphia.

Plaintiff experts: Ian Noy, human factors, Fort Meyers, Fla.; and Craig Clauser, safety engineering, West Chester, Pa.