Kin sue in hair spray fire death
`The daughters of a Brooklyn woman who died of burns after puncturing a clogged aerosol can of Aquanet hair spray have filed a wrongful death suit against the manufacturer. [..]
When the can’s nozzle became clogged after she had sprayed on some of the product, Squicciarini picked up a can opener from a kitchen drawer, according to court papers filed in the Brooklyn Supreme Court suit.
“With the can opener, Lorraine Squicciarini opened a hole in the bottom of the Aquanet can in an attempt to clear the nozzle,” according to the complaint. “The contents, including vapors and highly flammable and explosive materials,” spurted from the can. [..]
The suit against Unilever USA by Lorraine Squicciarini’s daughters, Barbara Squicciarini of Staten Island and Marisa Ciancimino of Hazlet, N.J., does not specify damages, but Schoen said he will seek $10 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive damages. [..]
Schoen said he researched earlier cases of injuries involving Aquanet and determined “the printed warning against puncturing the can, which was insufficient then, remains insufficient.”‘
March 28th, 2008 at 3:08 am
Sounds like an uphill battle. It says “Do Not Puncture”. I think it might be common sense not to puncture something under pressure.
March 28th, 2008 at 3:14 am
I agree. If you puncture anything under pressure its unstable and likely to cause injury. Being a woman, I assume this wasn’t her first time using hairspray. She knew the consequences of using a metal can opener to open a metal container with pressurized flammable liquid.
March 28th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
If this page turns into an advertisement for a whole bunch of law firms, all your comments are going to be deleted.