PHILADELPHIA – A United Kingdom couple who own property in Bucks County have settled claims with 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. first 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 said 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 alleged 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.
Counsel for each defendant individually filed answers to the complaint on Aug. 28, denying its allegations and asserting a dozen affirmative defenses.
“Plaintiffs’ claims are barred and/or limited by the provisions of the Pennsylvania Comparative Negligence Act. By plaintiffs’ actions at the time, date, and place stated in the complaint, plaintiffs assumed the risk of any and all injuries and/or damages which they is alleged to have suffered,” the defendants’ answers stated, in part.
“The complaint, or portions thereof, fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. The damages alleged by plaintiffs in the complaint did not result from acts or omissions of defendants, but from acts and/or omissions of third parties over whom defendants had no control.”
Among additional affirmative defenses, the defendants claim they had no notice or knowledge of the defect as alleged by plaintiffs, which bars the plaintiffs’ recovery; that the alleged defective product which is the subject of this suit may not have been designed, tested, inspected, labeled, packaged, marketed or manufactured by answering defendants; and a denial that any product supplied in any fashion by answering defendants was defective in any way.
UPDATE
After a pre-trial conference, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge Gene E.K. Pratter stated on May 26 that the case was settled and would be dismissed with prejudice. Terms of the settlement were not revealed.
“It having been reported that the issues among the parties in the above action have been settled and upon Order of the Court pursuant to the provisions of Rule 41.1(b) of the Local Rules of Civil Procedure of this Court, it is ordered that the above action is dismissed with prejudice, pursuant to agreement of counsel without costs,” Pratter said.
Before settlement and for multiple counts of strict liability, negligence, breach of warranties, the plaintiffs were 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 were 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 were represented by Greg A. Ray of Bunker & Ray, in Philadelphia.
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