A Pennsylvania appellate court has revived a Products Liability Personal Injury Negligence lawsuit against Kubota Tractor Corp., following a tragic accident in which a 7-year-old boy suffered a leg amputation after being run over by a Kubota BX2200 lawnmower. The boy’s grandmother was mowing the lawn in reverse when she accidentally ran over him, failing to notice he had fallen. The Products Liability Personal Injury Negligence lawsuit, filed by the boy’s mother, claims that the tractor lacked crucial safety features, including a rear safety guard, that could have prevented the injury.
The trial court had previously ruled in favor of Kubota, accepting the company’s expert testimony that the mower was not defective and that the injury would have occurred regardless of the mower’s design. However, the appellate panel disagreed, stating that the trial judge wrongly accepted the expert’s conclusions and denied the jury’s role in determining the facts of the case. The panel has now sent the case back to trial, where a jury will decide the credibility of both sides’ expert witnesses.
This case underscores the importance of product safety features and the role of expert testimony in Products Liability Personal Injury Negligence lawsuits. The outcome will likely have implications for future claims involving defective products and safety design flaws.
The case is L.T. et al. v. Kubota Manufacturing of America Corp. et al., case number 1310 MDA 2023, in the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. Appellants were represented by Galfand Berger, LLP and Appellees were represented by the law firms of DLA Piper, LLP and Griffith, Lerman, Lutz & Scheib.
Were you or someone you know injured by an unsafe product? Contact Anzalone & Doyle Trial Lawyers today for a free consultation regarding your potential Products Liability Personal Injury Negligence case.
