Louisville Man Wins $5.78 Million Verdict After Defective Trimmer Head Shatters Into His Leg
After trial: The Kentucky Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment in February 2004, including the punitive award. We did not confirm whether further review was sought or whether the judgment was paid.
Won by Dolt, Thompson, Shepherd & Kinney, P.S.C. and Dolt, Thompson, Shepherd, Conway & Stanton, PSC.
A Jefferson Circuit Court jury in May 2002 found Sufix U.S.A. liable and grossly negligent after a Pro-Edge trimmer head broke apart in 1998 and cut Tommy Cook Jr.'s right leg to the muscle, nerves and tendons. The jury awarded about $2.8 million in compensatory damages and nearly $3 million in punitive damages, for $5.78 million in all. The Kentucky Court of Appeals upheld the judgment in 2004.
What happened
On May 19, 1998, Tommy Cook Jr. of Louisville was using a Sufix Pro-Edge trimmer head when it came apart. The Pro-Edge swung pivoting metal blades instead of string, a design meant for thick vegetation, and the blades were held to the trimmer shaft by a plastic cap. A fragment struck Cook's right lower leg and cut deeply into the muscle, nerves and tendons.
Cook had two reconstructive surgeries and never regained normal function in the leg. He lives with chronic pain, cannot walk any distance without a wheelchair, and the court later described him as totally disabled from working.
The case was tried before a Jefferson Circuit Court jury in Louisville, which ended in May 2002. Cook's lawyers, Tyler Thompson and Jeffrey Freeman, argued that the plastic cap was too weak for the forces a spinning blade produces, especially when it hits something hard. Expert testimony at trial agreed that the cap could not withstand normal use. The evidence also showed that Sufix had built a stronger metal-capped version for sale in Italy, yet sold the plastic version in the United States.
Sufix, based in High Point, North Carolina, could not point to documented pre-release testing of the plastic design. After customers reported failures, the company investigated only in a limited way. A Sufix field test in April 1998, weeks before Cook was hurt, showed the plastic head shattering, and no recall followed. Thompson told the Courier-Journal that the product was defective, dangerous and never should have been on the market to begin with.
The jury found Sufix liable for a defective product and grossly negligent. It awarded about $2.8 million in compensatory damages for medical expenses, lost wages and pain and suffering, and nearly $3 million in punitive damages. Circuit Court judgment was entered on May 31, 2002.
Sufix appealed, arguing that punitive damages were improper and excessive. The Kentucky Court of Appeals disagreed in February 2004. It held that failing to test a product adequately for the risk of serious injury can amount to gross negligence, and that a punitive award roughly equal to the compensatory award was within constitutional limits. The company, the court said, should have anticipated significant penalties for selling a product capable of catastrophic injury.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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