Summary judgment was obtained for our client in a wrongful death/survival action pending in the Circuit Court of Cook County. Plaintiffs claimed that a three year-old girl died as a result of a house fire allegedly started by her twin sister, who was purportedly playing with a utility lighter designed and marketed by our clients. Plaintiffs further claimed that the utility lighter was defective and unreasonably dangerous because it was not equipped with a child-resistant device and its warnings were allegedly inadequate. Plaintiffs demanded approximately $8 million to settle this lawsuit.
Michael Freeborn, Michael Kornak, and Pat Woytek convinced the Court that the case must be dismissed because, under Illinois law, there is no duty to make a utility lighter child resistant. They also argued that the utility lighter was, as a matter of law, not "unreasonably dangerous." The Court agreed with both of these statements, and granted our client summary judgment on all counts.
Congratulations should also be extended to Wes Marsh, Rich Sikes, Kathryn Thomas, Michele Foster, Cathy Miller, Barb Caruso, Chris Smith, Patty Ballantyne, Theresa Henderson, and Dawne Donaldson, whose work on this case helped secure victory.