Product Liability – Defective electric blanket catches fire causing leg burns

A 37-year-old union laborer was severely burned when an electric blanket imported from China and sold by the defendant distributor caught fire as she was sleeping. As with many products imported from China, the distributor did not know the name of the company that designed or manufactured it. The blanket had been given to the plaintiff as a “door prize” by a local business, who was also a defendant. After the fire, SUGARMAN’s attorneys took possession of the remnants of the blanket and secured several exemplar blankets as well as competing models of electric blankets. SUGARMAN engaged an expert engineering firm, which concluded that the subject blanket did not have the required, as-advertised overheating protection, and was therefore defective. The plaintiff sustained deep partial and full thickness burns to both feet and her right leg requiring multiple painful surgeries and grafting, and which left the plaintiff with permanent scars and associated pain and stiffness. SUGARMAN’s attorneys were able to settle the case at mediation prior to filing of a lawsuit.