PHILADELPHIA – The lawsuit of a South Carolina woman who claimed she was scalded by an exploding tea kettle has been remanded to a Philadelphia court, per order of a federal judge.
Lisa Maseng of Columbia, S.C. initially filed suit in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on Aug. 19 versus Lenox Corporation of Bristol and John Doe defendants 1-10.
The case was later removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Sept. 15, based upon grounds of diversity of citizenship and the amount of damages in controversy.
The alleged incident took place Oct. 6, 2018, when Maseng was boiling water for tea. She said the Lenox Profile 2.5 Quart Stainless Steel Whistling Tea Kettle was in the same condition as when she bought it new at a Tuesday Morning store in Richland County, South Carolina.
“The product model involved in plaintiff’s accident was subsequently the subject of a product recall as a result of its burn hazard following other instances in which the same product model similarly exploded and/or expelled hot water through the top, thereby resulting in injuries to end consumers of the product,” the suit said.
The plaintiff argues that the defendants failed to protect her and other users from the exploding tea kettle and did not warn of the possibility of the device to react in that manner.
After Maseng motioned to have the case remanded to the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on Sept. 18, Lenox Corporation respectfully requested that it be allowed to withdraw its notice of removal three days later, on Sept. 21.
UPDATE
On Sept. 23, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge Chad F. Kenney ordered the case remanded.
“Upon consideration of defendant Lenox Corporation’s motion to withdraw notice of removal, it is hereby ordered that defendant Lenox Corporation’s motion to withdraw notice of removal is granted and this case is remanded back to the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas,” Kenney said.
“The Clerk of Court is directed to remand this matter back to the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County and close this matter.”
For multiple counts of strict liability negligence, product liability negligence, breach of warranty and reckless conduct justifying punitive damages, the plaintiff is seeking compensatory and punitive damages in excess of $50,000.
The plaintiff is represented by Brandon A. Swartz and Bryan Michael Ferris of Swartz Culleton, in Newtown.
Defendant Lenox Corporation is represented by R. Erick Chizmar of the Law Offices of Jeffrey H. Eiseman, in Philadelphia.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 2:20-cv-04522
Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas case 200801693
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com