Do You Know if Your Stove is Safe?

By Hal Lewis, Partner

On behalf of firm client Mrs. Jones (not her real name), attorney Hal Lewis recently settled a landmark products liability case against the nation's leading manufacturer of household appliances. Due to confidentiality agreements entered into at mediation by both sides, the identification of the parties and the amount of the settlement cannot be released. However, because the danger encountered by Mrs. Jones is one that millions of Americans unknowingly encounter every day, we feel compelled to publish this story in an effort to educate and warn the public about this hazardous condition.

On Easter Sunday in 1998, Mrs. Jones was boiling a large pot of water on top of her stove as she prepared to boil the pasta for her legendary lasagna. Mrs. Jones and her husband purchased their home approximately one year earlier after retiring to Florida from Brooklyn, New York. They bought the house from its original owners. Therefore, the stove that Mrs. Jones was using in the kitchen on that Easter Sunday was the same stove that was originally installed in the house in 1986.

The stove had always worked fine and had never given either of the owners any problems. What Mrs. Jones didn't know — but what the manufacturer of that stove did know and didn't tell — was that the stove presented grave danger to Mrs. Jones and anyone else who used it.

The stove in Mrs. Jones' kitchen was the typical freestanding range/oven combination that has been sold in every appliance department of every hardware store for decades. It had a range with burners on top, and a door with a glass window on the front that opened downward to give access to the oven. Tens of millions of these stoves are still in use today in homes, apartments, and dormitories throughout the world, which is why we believe it is so important to spread the word and help protect people from disaster.

The problem with stoves sold during that time period, is that they were distributed to the public for installation without any brackets or clamps to secure them to the wall or floor. Thus, whenever the oven door is open and any weight is put on that door (perhaps by a child pulling up on the closed door or a person placing a turkey pan on the open door for support), the entire stove tips forward. The outer frame of the stove is made of fairly lightweight metal, while the oven door is heavy because of the glass window. When additional weight is added to the outer edge of that door, the stove pitches forward and everything slides off of the stove.

In Mrs. Jones' case, she was going to put some lamb in the oven when she noticed a small bit of burned food inside. She bent over to wipe out the spill, and placed her hand on the open oven door for support. Having just turned on the oven she knew the door would not be hot to the touch, but she had no idea that the large pot of boiling water on the stove was about to come crashing down onto her neck, back and arms as the result of the stove tipping forward. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened, and Mrs. Jones will have to live the rest of her life with significant scars as a visible and painful reminder of this horrifying occurrence.

Soon after she was injured, Mrs. Jones was referred to our office by an attorney in her hometown who is also a friend of her family. This attorney knew that Fonvielle Hinkle & Lewis had settled numerous difficult product liability cases against large corporations in the past, so he was comfortable putting his friend's case in our hands. We went to work immediately by flying down to meet Mrs. Jones so that our investigator could document the scene of the incident and preserve all of the evidence that would later prove important in the case. We also began searching our databases and other jurisdictions for similar cases involving the same type of dangerous accidents. What we found was staggering.

As it turned out, this was just one of many such accidents that had taken place throughout the United States. In fact, the problem was so widespread that the appliance manufacturer recognized the danger and began selling all of their stoves with mounting brackets and proper installation instructions. They also began putting warnings and illustrations on the insides of their stoves to try and help prevent people from making the same mistake that Mrs. Jones made. But, in spite of their newfound concern for future customers, the manufacturer took no steps to recall the millions of dangerous stoves that were already installed incorrectly in homes. More importantly, the manufacturer did not take the time or effort to simply send a set of these new brackets or a warning letter to their past customers — even though the original owners of this home had mailed back the stove's warranty card and thereby put the manufacturer on notice of the precise street address where this stove was located!

Given this acknowledgement by the manufacturer of the dangerous propensity of its product, one might expect this case to settle with little or no litigation. However, this was not the case, as the manufacturer instead tried to place blame for the accident on Mrs. Jones. Nonetheless, we were finally able to settle the case at mediation for an amount that will allow Mrs. Jones to live as comfortably as possible for the rest of her life.

Since becoming involved in this case and learning about this hidden danger, we have encountered a large number of individuals who have discovered that their stoves were also installed without the required brackets. Some stoves were installed by sliding them tightly in between two cabinets, but even these stoves should be mounted to the floor or wall in order to make them secure. If you discover that the stove in your home can be tipped forward by placing weight on the oven door when it is in the open position, then you should immediately contact the appliance manufacturer and ask them to supply a solution. If this is not available, you should visit a local hardware store and ask someone to assist you in securing your stove to the ground. After all, an ounce of prevention is always worth a pound of cure.