Jacqueline Delgado and her husband Renee have filed a Palm Beach County personal injury lawsuit against two sellers and a packing company. Jacqueline sustained serious burns when the NAPAfire and FIREGEL Gel Fuel she was using ignited, dousing her body in flames. Renee also was injured.
Not long after the Palm Beach Shores burn accident, the US CPSC and Napa Home & Garden recalled about 460,000 pourable NAPAfire and FIREGEL Gel Fuel jugs and bottles because the product could ignite suddenly and splatter onto people and objects when poured into a firepot that is still burning. Napa said there were 37 incidents reported, including 23 burn accidents.
In the Delgados’ Palm Beach products liability complaint, the couple is suing Fuel Barons and Losorea Packaging Co., TJX Companies, and Manhattan’s Pharmacy. Because Napa Home & Garden has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, it would prove very challenging to obtain anything from the beleaguered company, which is facing dozens of other products liability lawsuits over its dangerous gel fuel.
Florida Products Liability
There are a number of parties who can be held liable for a product defect. Three common kinds of products liability defects are manufacturing defects, design defects, and marketing defects. Although most injury cases require negligence to be a factor when proving liability, with Florida products liability, as long as the consumer got hurt because of the product, then there is likely grounds for the recovery of damages even if the other party didn’t commit an act of negligence.
Napa Home and Garden’s gel fuel is not the only gel fuel reportedly to have caused serious burn injuries. The CPSC says this year it has received reports of 2 deaths and 57 injuries linked to gel fuel, decorative tables, and pots. One man, injured in another Florida burn accident, fell into a coma before later dying.
Calls to ban gel fuel heat up, Chicago Tribune, August 10, 2011
Napa Home & Garden Recalls NAPAfire and FIREGEL Pourable Gel Fuel Due to Fire and Burn Hazards, CPSC, June 22, 2011
Palm Beach County couple files lawsuit after burning incident, Sun-Sentinel, August 3, 2011
Related Web Resources:
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Burn Injury Information, Phoenix Society for Survivors
More Blog Posts:
Seven People Suffer Burn Injuries After Florida Motor Vehicle Crash Causes Deadly Gas Pump Fire at Ft. Lauderdale Station, South Florida Injury Lawyer Blog, October 9, 2008
Florida Products Liability: Senate Passes Tort Reform Legislation That Could Limit Payouts from Manufacturers of Defective Autos, South Florida Injury Lawyer Blog, March 24, 2011
Baby Deaths and Injuries Prompt Recalls of 1.7 Million Summer Infant Video Baby Monitors and 500,000 Bassinets by Burlington Basket Company, South Florida Injury Lawyer Blog, February 16, 2011