PHILADELPHIA – Sherwin-Williams has denied it was responsible for damages caused by one of its deck sealing products, in response to allegations from an Easton couple who say that same product was used to stain its deck, before it supposedly self-heated and caused a fire on their property.
Scott and Andrea Mains first filed a complaint on Jan. 7 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against The Sherwin-Williams Co.
The Mains claimed they purchased Sherwin-Williams’ Thompson’s WaterSeal Penetrating Timber Oil for their deck and placed application materials with the product left on it on the lawn next to the deck.
They alleged that on Aug. 26, 2018, the application materials left on the lawn spontaneously caught on fire, causing extensive damage to the property. The Mains added the stain was defective and unreasonably dangerous, and that the product lacked adequate warnings and instructions.
On Feb. 27, Sherwin-Williams filed an answer to the Mains’ complaint, denying each of their claims in their entirety and countering with 42 affirmative defenses.
Among the forty-plus defenses were:
• The Mains’ lawsuit failing to state a claim against Sherwin-Williams upon which relief may be granted;
• If contributing negligence by the plaintiffs were discovered, then any recovery is barred pursuant to the Pennsylvania Comparative Negligence Act;
• Because of plaintiffs’ own contributory negligence, comparative negligence, assumption of the risk and/or because plaintiffs disregarded certain open and obvious risks; and
• Because their damages were proximately caused by an unforeseeable misuse, application, alteration, modification, and/or abuse of the Thompson’s WaterSeal Penetrating Timber Oil identified in the complaint.
For counts of strict liability, negligence and breach of implied warranty, the Mains are seeking monetary relief in excess of $75,000, plus interest, all other appropriate relief and a trial by jury.
The plaintiffs are represented by Kenneth Levine of de Luca Levine, in Blue Bell.
The defendant is represented by C. Tyler Havey, Ann T. Field and Eric C. Rosenberg of Gordon & Rees, in Philadelphia.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 5:20-cv-00112
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com