PHILADELPHIA – An Effort couple are suing a major holiday retailer for negligence and other charges, claiming it sold a jar which exploded and caused severe hand injuries to one of the plaintiffs.
Whitney Vanicky and Jeffrey Vanicky filed suit on Feb. 3 in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, against Christmas Tree Shops, Inc. of Harrisburg.
Whitney had purchased a jar from the defendant on July 15, 2015, known as a barrel jar.
“On or about July 16, 2015, at approximately 7:45 p.m., plaintiff [Whitney] Vanicky was handling the subject for purposes of embellishing it with paint. Suddenly and without any advance warning, the subject jar’s defective and unreasonably dangerous condition resulted in it exploding while Mrs. Vanicky was holding it,” the suit says.
“As a direct and proximate result of the defective and unreasonably dangerous subject jar, Mrs. Vanicky sustained catastrophic, disfiguring and permanent injuries to her right upper extremity, including but not limited to severe and disabling injuries to the skin, bone, muscles, flesh, nerves, tendons, blood vessels and other tissues in her right hand and wrist,” the suit adds.
The plaintiffs believe the defendant failed to warn customers of the danger of the jar, and that this negligence caused the plaintiff’s severe, catastrophic and disfiguring injuries. For counts of strict liability, negligence and loss of consortium, the plaintiffs are seeking damages in excess of $50,000, with compensatory damages and costs.
The plaintiffs are represented by Frederic S. Eisenberg and Daniel J. Sherry Jr. of Eisenberg Rothweiler Winkler Eisenberg & Jeck, in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas case 170104954
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nickpennrecord@gmail.com