Trial Magazine

A federal district court held that the seller and distributor of plastic meal trays used at a correctional facility was not liable to an inmate who allegedly became ill after ingesting plastic that peeled off a tray.

Roosevelt Williams was an inmate at Oshkosh Correctional Institution. He was served a meal on a tray sold by Design Specialties. While eating, he swallowed plastic peelings that had come off the tray and allegedly developed abdominal pain and breathing difficulties. Williams sued Design Specialties, Inc., alleging state law products liability claims. The plaintiff alleged that the defendant had manufactured defective trays that peeled.

The defendant moved for summary judgment.

Granting the motion, the district court found that the trays at issue were manufactured not by Design Specialties, but by Rogers Manufacturing. Design Specialties acted as a seller and distributor of the trays. As such, under Wisconsin law, Design Specialties may be held strictly liable only if the company had assumed the manufacturer’s duties to design or provide warnings about the product, the manufacturer cannot be sued in Wisconsin, and the plaintiff cannot enforce a judgment against the manufacturer. The plaintiff has not proved any of these factors by a preponderance of the evidence, the court found. Moreover, he has failed to submit evidence showing that the tray had a defective condition that rendered it unreasonably dangerous to persons or property or that led to his alleged injuries.

Consequently, the court held that summary judgment was proper.

Citation: Williams v. Musha, 2019 WL 1385744 (W.D. Wis. Mar. 27, 2019).