PITTSBURGH – A Pittsburgh man says he was severely injured when a battery power pack he purchased at Walmart exploded, and now brings charges of product liability and negligence against the retail giant.
Peter Sisko of Pittsburgh filed suit in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on Oct. 5 versus Walmart, Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores East, LP, of Bentonville, Ark.
According to the litigation, Sisko purchased the battery pack, labeled as a “Battery Pack With Style 4000mah” at a Walmart location in Bethel Park.
“On June 26, 2019, plaintiff Peter Sisko had the aforementioned battery power pack in his pocket. Suddenly, and without warning, the battery power pack exploded, causing Sisko to sustain serious injuries and damages,” the suit states.
“The battery power pack was defective in that it could and did malfunction and/or fail under normal use, because it did not meet the reasonable expectations of an ordinary consumer and because the risk posed by its design and manufacture greatly exceeded the utility, if any, of its design. The battery power pack was further defective in that it failed to be properly labeled and/or have proper warnings.”
Sisko believes Walmart negligently designed and/or manufactured a battery power pack which was defective, having such a product manufactured for sale in a defective condition, selling a product in a defective condition and failing to warn users of the dangers of such a defective product, in addition to other allegedly negligent actions.
Subsequently, Sisko suffered burns to the lower extremity and buttocks requiring skin grafts, pain and suffering, necessity of medical treatment, loss of income, disfigurement, embarrassment and humiliation, incurring of medical bills and/or liens, inability to enjoy the ordinary pleasures of life and perform normal daily activities and other injuries and damages.
For counts of strict product liability and negligence, the plaintiff is seeking damages in excess of applicable arbitration limits exclusive of interest and costs, and a trial by jury.
The plaintiff is represented by Benjamin T. Wilt and Daniel S. Schiffman of Schiffman Firm, in Pittsburgh.
The defendants have not yet secured legal counsel.
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas case GD-20-010528
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com