Electric Pressure Cooker Explosion?

This video features George E. McLaughlin, a Personal Injury attorney based in Colorado.

Defective Product Attorney Handles Cases Nationwide

Video Transcript:

George McLaughlin:

Take pictures, save the product, but first, take care of yourself. Then call an attorney.

Rob Rosenthal:

Are you putting your family at risk when you cook for them using a pressure cooker? We're going to find out right now because that's what we're going to ask the lawyer.

Hi again, everybody. I'm Rob Rosenthal with askthelawyers.com, and my guest is Colorado attorney George McLaughlin. George, good to see again as always. Thank you for helping us out.

George McLaughlin:

Thanks for having me, Rob.

Rob Rosenthal:

So give us the background. What's the story? What's going on with some of these pressure cookers?

George McLaughlin:

Well, it's mostly the electric pressure cookers that I've been focused on. Pressure cookers come in two different styles; one is a pot that you put on a stove and you turn the burner on. The other one is a self-contained unit which has an electrical cord you plug in, and you have operating controls on the pressure cooker. Those are the ones that I have been spending my time on in the last couple of years. The problem is that while by design and by applicable industry standards and safety standards, you should not be able to open a pressure cooker when it's under pressure, it must have safety devices to prevent that, there are a number of pressure cookers from a number of different manufacturers that are opening while under pressure. When that happens, the scalding contents erupt out of the pot and all over the user causing horrible, horrible burns.

Rob Rosenthal:

In the cases that you've dealt with it, some of these are very serious injuries, right?

George McLaughlin:

Oh yes. The liquids and the solids that come out of these pots when they literally erupt is over the point that water boils; it's hotter than 212 degrees, and that causes instantaneously a second degree burn and a lot of first degree burns. There's a lot of the material, the liquid and the solids that come out, and it sticks to your clothing, it's on your face, and it's scalding you; you get these horrible burns.

Rob Rosenthal:

Is it one particular brand? Is there more than one brand? What should we look for?

George McLaughlin:

There are several different companies that put their name on these products that I have now, either pending cases or I've done cases in the past. They include companies such as a company called Instant Pot, a company called Fagor, a company called Bella; those are just three, but there are about a dozen of them. They all look pretty much the same. I've yet to find one that wasn't made by a subcontractor in China, So what appears to be going on is these companies that make kitchen appliances contract with a manufacturer or various manufacturers in China to manufacture a pressure cooker with their name on it, but they're made by a handful of companies in China with similar design and similar problems.

Rob Rosenthal:

It seems like I see ads for these things all over the place still, George. Was there a recall? Was there a design change or are they just still dangerous?

George McLaughlin:

Well, they're still dangerous because you don't know if you have one that has a defective lid locking mechanism or not. Several years ago, there was a class action against a company named TriStar that made pressure cookers, and in that class action, anybody who had a TriStar was able to get damages, get relief for their defective product. I am not aware of any other class actions for these products, and I'm not aware of any recalls for the lid locking issue. I really think there should be a class action and/or a recall if the problem is systemic design rather than just an occasional manufacturing mistake made by the people that make it in China.

Rob Rosenthal:

What do you hear from the manufacturers? Is there a defense that it must have been user error?

George McLaughlin:

It's always user error to some degree. I've never had a case yet where the company said, “Oh, we're so sorry this happened. We know we have a problem. What can we do to make this right?” They defend the cases aggressively; they blame the consumer for having misused the product, but even if it is under pressure, we're not supposed to open it if it's under pressure, people believe that it's not under pressure for some reason, whether it's indicating that or whether they're mistaken. Either way, by design, it should not be able to be opened just by turning the lid. The standard is that you have to have a lid that will not open under pressure with up to 100 pounds of rotational force. That's a lot of force.

Rob Rosenthal:

George, it would seem to me that you've had quite a few of these cases you've handled; you’ve got quite a few still pending. There are thousands, tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of these products out there. Do the manufacturers, in your opinion, are they just going, “Well, it's the cost of doing business, these litigations.” Rather than make a wholesale change.

George McLaughlin:

Well, I don't speak for the manufacturers, and they certainly wouldn't admit something like that to me, but I suspect that they're treating it as a cost of doing business, because it doesn't happen all the time. A number of things have to come together for it to happen. First you have to have one of the products where the lid locking mechanism is inadequate and it allows it to be opened. Second, the person using it has to either by seeing a misreading on the device, a mistake of what the device is telling them, or by their own mistake, they go to open it thinking it's not under pressure, and those things have to come together where the device still has to be under pressure, and it has to have a lid that is able to be opened under pressure when it shouldn't.

Rob Rosenthal:

So if someone's been injured with one of these instant pots, the pressure cookers, whatever the brand, what's your recommendation? What's your advice?

George McLaughlin:

Well, a number of things. First of all, take care of yourself medically. Immediately get care for your burn injuries; don't assume you're going to be okay taking care of it yourself. Serious burns can get infected; go see your doctor right away, go to the emergency room right away.

Second, don't do anything to the product. Certainly don't throw away; don't wash it, don't clean it. You can clean up your kitchen and such, but if you have the presence of mind to do it when you get home from the hospital, take pictures or have someone at your house take pictures while you're in the hospital to show the mess that occurred when this stuff came spewing out of the pot. I've seen photographs where the lid was stuck in the ceiling because it blew off, rammed itself into an acoustic ceiling and stuck there. So take pictures, save the product, but first, take care of yourself. Then call an attorney.

Rob Rosenthal:

Should they bother contacting the manufacturer at all?

George McLaughlin:

No. I say no, because I've seen claim files from manufacturers where people contact them directly, they want you to send them the product, then they want to send you a new product or a gift certificate, or maybe they'll pay you some money, but I have yet to see somebody who directly contacted the manufacturer and was treated fairly, in my opinion.

Rob Rosenthal:

And you've had a lot of experience with this. You've done a lot of the discovery on this. You handle these cases from all over the country?

George McLaughlin:

I handle them all over the country. I have a case pending right now in Seattle; I have a couple of cases I'm about to file on the East Coast. I have a case I recently filed here in Colorado, which is always fun to have one in my own state, but I go all over the country. I’m doing some co-counsel on a case in Chicago. I travel the country doing product liability cases.

Rob Rosenthal:

Alright, George. Thank you so much. I appreciate you updating us on this and as always, thank you for answering our questions.

George McLaughlin:

Thanks for having me, Rob.

Rob Rosenthal:

That's going to do it for this episode of Ask the lawyer. My guest has been Colorado attorney George McLaughlin. Remember, you want the very best information or you like the idea of being able to choose a lawyer that lawyers choose, make sure to go to askthelawyers.com. Thanks for watching, everybody. I'm Rob Rosenthal with AskTheLawyers™.

Disclaimer: This video is for informational purposes only. In some states, this video may be deemed Attorney Advertising. The choice of lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertisements.

Legal Disclaimer: This website is for informational purposes only. Use of this website does not constitute an attorney-client relationship. Information entered on this website is not confidential. This website has paid attorney advertising. Anyone choosing a lawyer must do their own independent research. By using this website, you agree to our additional Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.