Serious cuts from broken drinking glass at a short term rental results in settlement from online retailer and rental host.
Our client stayed at a short term rental in Chicago for a few nights. She brought a drinking glass into the bathroom while she was taking a shower. When she picked up the glass it fell apart in her hand, cutting it, and falling to the floor where it shattered before she slipped on her blood cutting her arm and leg more seriously.
Our client was able to identify the brand on the box of the glasses which was still in the apartment - a popular online retailer. We filed a products liability case for the defective and dangerous drinking glass. The short term rental host was sued also for supplying no other drinking vessel in the unit besides the glasses.
Before the drinking glasses were discontinued, our office obtained a set from the same online retailer. When the case was filed later, we obtained a expert in glass failure who previously performed testing on materials during space shuttle re-entry for NASA.
Our own expert performed crush resistance tests on the specimens we obtained from the online retailer and prepared their own report about their vulnerability to breaking.
A rapid change in temperature is known to be a cause of glass breakage or even explosion. This is called thermal shock.
Through discovery, we were able to obtain testing performed for the online retailer by a third party, where the thermal stress test result was a "Fail."
We also obtained complete "Reviews" left by customers who bought the same product, and noted a high proportion of complaints about how easily the glasses break.
After more than three years of pretrial litigation this matter settled favorably for the client with a joint payment from the short term rental host and the online retailer.
