If a pressure cooker malfunctioned, you and/or other members of your family may have suffered serious injuries. You may have suffered severe burns that required treatment in a hospital, including skin grafts. You or a family member may have scars or may be permanently disfigured. If a child was hurt in a pressure cooker accident, he or she may have suffered injuries that will have lifelong effects.
In addition to medical bills and damage to your home, you may be dealing with a sudden loss of income if you or your spouse cannot work because of the accident. You may be struggling to keep up with your regular bills, including your mortgage or rent, utilities, and car loans.
A pressure cooker injury lawyer may be able to help you seek compensation. Call our office at (800) 794-0444 to discuss your case with a member of our staff.
How Pressure Cookers Work
Pressure cookers have become popular because of their convenience. A pressure cooker works by increasing the pressure inside the appliance to raise the boiling point of water or another liquid so that food can cook faster than it can with conventional cooking methods.
The pot must be equipped with safety mechanisms, such as a strong seal, to hold the lid in place while the pressure cooker is operating. Most pressure cookers have a safety valve that can release steam if the internal pressure gets too high to prevent an explosion.
How Pressure Cooker Accidents Happen
An explosion can occur if the vent, seal, or another component malfunctions or has a design defect. Even if a valve releases steam as it is designed to do, it is still possible for some steam pockets to remain and cause an explosion. Injuries can also occur if the lid opens unexpectedly, the appliance overheats, or there is an electrical shortage.
Superheating of liquids allows a pressure cooker to heat food quickly, but it also increases the possibility of severe burns if an explosion occurs since the food inside is at a high temperature. Using oil in a pressure cooker can be even more dangerous since it boils at a hotter temperature than water. If an explosion occurs, the contents of the pressure cooker and pieces of the appliance itself can turn into shrapnel. Pressure cookers can also electrocute people. A pressure cooker accident can injure multiple individuals and can cause significant property damage.
Accidents may be caused by defective parts, such as safety pins, safety valves, and gaskets. A company may rush to bring a new product to market and may cut corners in the design or manufacturing process or fail to adequately test the product to make sure it is safe before selling it to the general public. In other cases, the manufacturer fails to provide adequate instructions to explain to consumers how to use a pressure cooker safely.
Sometimes, multiple consumers suffer serious injuries in similar accidents that are caused by design or manufacturing defects. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has recalled several brands of pressure cookers due to safety concerns after multiple accidents.
How a Pressure Cooker Injury Lawyer May Be Able to Help You
If you bought a pressure cooker, you expected it to meet high standards. You expected it to be designed with safety in mind, manufactured correctly, and tested to make sure that it would not pose a risk to you or your family. If you or a loved one suffered harm by a pressure cooker, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries, lost income, and pain and suffering, as well as property damage caused by an explosion or electrical problem.
The team at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm can investigate to find out what caused the pressure cooker accident. We may learn that there was a flaw in the product’s design that made it inherently unsafe, or we may find that a manufacturing defect caused a group of pressure cookers to be hazardous, even though the design itself is safe. Our team may find that the manufacturer was negligent because it failed to provide appropriate safety instructions or warning labels.
According to the Legal Information Institute (LII), “Products liability refers to the liability of any or all parties along the chain of manufacture of any product for damage caused by that product. This includes the manufacturer of component parts (at the top of the chain), an assembling manufacturer, the wholesaler, and the retail store owner (at the bottom of the chain).”
We may be able to file a product liability claim against the manufacturer, distributor, supplier, or retailer to seek compensation on your behalf. Call Pintas & Mullins Law Firm to learn more about how we may be able to assist you.
Get in Touch with an Attorney Who Can Help You Seek Justice
Pintas & Mullins Law Firm partners with litigation trial attorneys across the United States. A member of our team can travel to meet with you in person to discuss the injuries you or your family member suffered because of a pressure cooker accident and explain how we may be able to help you pursue justice.
You should not let concerns about legal fees stop you from seeking compensation for your injuries and other losses. Pintas & Mullins Law Firm works on a contingency model. That means that you will not have to pay us anything unless we obtain a financial award for you via a settlement or a trial verdict.
You do not have a long time to act. Every state has a statute of limitations that caps the amount of time plaintiffs have to file a lawsuit to seek compensation for injuries and other damages related to a defective product. Contact Pintas & Mullins Law Firm today at (800) 794-0444 so a member of our staff can listen to what you and your family endured, explain the relevant laws in your state, and describe what a pressure cooker injury lawyer may be able to do to help you seek justice.