PHILADELPHIA – A United Kingdom couple who own property in Bucks County are suing the manufacturer and distributor of an audio speaker they purchased, one which they claim malfunctioned and caused a catastrophic fire at that same property.
Dilipkumar Patel and Shobshana Patel of Feasterville-Trevose and State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. of Bloomington, Ill. filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on June 26 versus Monster, Inc. (doing business as “Monster Cable Products, Inc.”) of San Francisco, Calif. and E&S International Enterprises, Inc., of Van Nuys, Calif.
The Patels are citizens of the United Kingdom and own a property in Feasterville-Trevose. Prior to June 30, 2018, the plaintiffs purchased a Monster-brand speaker for use at their property, one which had been manufactured, imported and distributed by the defendants.
On June 30, 2018, the Patels say the speaker in question malfunctioned and failed, causing a devastating fire at their property which resulted in “substantial damage to the subject property, personal property within the subject property and damages for the loss of use of the subject property”, all of which totaled in excess of $850,000.
The Patels allege the defendants were negligent in their manufacture and design of the speaker, failed to warn of the potential for such serious and catastrophic defects and breached their warranties to guarantee the safe use of the product.
For multiple counts of strict liability, negligence, breach of warranties, the plaintiffs are seeking damages in excess of $850,000, plus interest, attorney’s fees, costs, delay damages and such other relief as the Court deems appropriate.
The plaintiffs are represented by John Neumann Hickey of the Law Offices of John N. Hickey in Media, plus Daniel J. De Luca of De Luca Levine, in Blue Bell.
The defendants have not yet secured legal counsel.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 2:20-cv-03118
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com