Legal Question in Product Liability in South Carolina
Eye Injury
In April of this year (2008) while mowing my yard with a Murray push mower I bought at Wal Mart about 4 or 5 years ago the lawnmower threw a rock in my left eye. I went to the emergency room. There was significant damage to my eye. I have had numerous visits with eye doctors and have had surgery for a detached retina. Now I have 20/200 vision in my eye. I have considered legal action. Do you think I have a case?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Eye Injury
Well you might have a case, but I don't have enough information to tell for sure. What you didn't explain was exactly what caused the rock to be propelled from the mower. That would be key. There are basically three different types of Product Liability case. One is a Design Defect, two is a Manufactured Flaw, and three would be a Failure to Warn. A couple things that would make such a law suit would be these. They are expensive as they usually require experts to testify and provide information. You would need to be able to prove one of the three types of Product Liability scenerios. I'm afraid that the age of your lawn mower might also be a problem. Bottom line is, if you can prove exactly how the the lawn mower threw the rock and then prove it was a result of it being designed improperly or that it was not manufactured correctly, then you might be able to suceed. But these are difficult things to prove.