Lawsuit Filed Against Jack Stand Manufacturer

A lawsuit has been filed against Harbor Freight, a company that manufactures jack stands. According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff was underneath his pickup truck when his jack stand collapsed onto his chest. The plaintiff suffered severe injuries as a result of the jack stand failure. The plaintiff alleges that the jack stand suffered from a defective weld resulting in the collapse of the jack stand and the plaintiff’s injuries.

A class-action lawsuit was filed against the company prior to the lawsuit mentioned above. The class action followed a recall issued by Harbor Freight. The company recalled 1.7 million jack stands in the United States. According to the lawsuit, the jack stands suffer from a manufacturing defect that causes the ratchet teeth to inconsistently engage with the pawl. This leads to a risk that the jack stand will collapse when it is underneath a vehicle.

One Georgia plaintiff said he experienced a problem with the jack stands while working on his vehicle. He was uninjured because he had safety mechanisms in place, but when he tried to return the jack stand, the company said the stands were no longer under warranty and refused to reimburse him.

Defective jack stands 

When a person works underneath a jack stand, they are putting their lives in the hands of the jack stand to ensure that the vehicle doesn’t collapse on top of them. When the jack stand is defective, a vehicle can collapse on top of them causing serious injury and death. The plaintiff mentioned above had a pickup truck collapse on his chest. He is lucky to be alive.

Product liability lawsuits involving jack stands 

Product liability lawsuits are filed under three different theories of liability. The first is that the product was designed defectively and posed an undue risk to any customer that purchased the product. The second is that there was some sort of manufacturing defect that made the product unreasonably dangerous. The third is that the company failed to warn customers about a potential danger intrinsic to the product. The class-action lawsuit alleges that the jack stands were unmerchantable and unfit for their designed use.

In this case, the plaintiffs are alleging that a manufacturing defect made the jack stands unreasonably dangerous. In the case where the jack stand collapsed, a defective weld was blamed for the incident.

Defending the lawsuit 

The product manufacturer can claim that the plaintiff used the jack stand negligently. In this way, they can shift the negligence to the customer. However, they are unlikely to win this lawsuit on those grounds. If the jack stand collapsed while the plaintiff was using it, it is unlikely that the jack stand failure was the fault of the plaintiff. The company is likely liable for his injuries.

Talk to a Florida Product Liability Lawyer Today 

Halpern, Santos, & Pinkert represent the interests of Florida residents who have been injured by dangerous or defective products. Call our Florida personal injury attorneys today to schedule a free consultation and we can begin discussing your injuries immediately.

Source:

prnewswire.com/news-releases/johnsonbecker-files-lawsuit-against-harbor-freight-tools-usa-for-jack-stand-injuries-in-michigan-301904182.html