A Fulton County, Ga., jury said Airxcel, a company that manufactured a range cover installed in a RV, bore no responsibility for the injuries a toddler suffered when the top closed unexpectedly, knocking a pot of boiling food onto the child as she stood nearby.
This story by Greg Land originally appeared in Law.com’s Daily Report.
The youngster, then 18 months old, suffered second-degree burns over much of her body and permanent scarring on her leg, according to plaintiffs’ attorney Matthew Wetherington of Werner Wetherington.
The child’s parents originally sued five defendants, including the companies that manufactured the RV and those that serviced it, but the other defendants settled by the time the case got to trial.
Hawkins Parnell Thackston & Young partner Matthew Barr, who represented the remaining defendant, Kansas-based Airxcel, said its strategic decision to try the case in Fulton County State Court paid off.
“Because all of the co-defendants settled out before trial, we had the right to transfer the case to Gwinnett County, which is where Airxcel has its registered agent,” Barr said via email.
“But we felt that we had a better chance of getting the kind of jury we needed in Fulton rather than Gwinnett, so we did not move to transfer the venue. We needed a jury which would set aside the obvious sympathy, critically analyze the evidence, and hold plaintiffs to their burden of proof. We got that with this jury,” he said.
According to the lawyers and court filings, the accident happened at an RV park in Katy, Texas, in 2015 where Wesley and Tifani Taylor were staying with their daughter, Presley.
The 2013 Sandpiper 366FL Travel Trailer was outfitted with a range and cooktop, and a bi-fold range cover with locking hinges on either side to hold it open when the cooking surface was in use.
The jurors “concluded that the incident did not occur as alleged. They did not believe that Presley’s injuries were caused by the product.”
