Day on Torts
What happens when your smoke detector fails to work?
Plaintiffs bought two smoke detectors for their home. According to The Business Review, “The detectors at issue were ionization type smoke detectors that sense high temperature, fast moving fires, as opposed to detectors employing photoelectric cells which are better at detecting smoldering fires, like the one which apparently killed” two members of the the plaintiffs’ family. “A photoelectric smoke detector would detect the smoke from a fire 15 minutes earlier than the ionization type …”
“During the trial the jury heard from witnesses who testified that the company was aware of the shortcomings of the ionization only detector but continued to market the product instead of selling only dual detectors. The dual detectors cost from $20 to $25 while the ionization only types sell for $10 to $15.”
The jury found for the plaintiffs and awarded damages of over $7,000,000. Read more here.