Utah Law Talk

A fire that took the life of 63-year-old John Williams is being blamed on a machine that caught fire. According to KSL News, a machine that Williams used as an assistant machine operator for Adroit Screw Machine Products Warehouse, overheated and caused 50 gallons of lubricant to catch fire, according to investigators with the West Jordan Fire Department. Assistant Chief Marc Mcelreath stated: “As that oil heated up it became flammable, and that was the reason the fire grew as fast as it did.”
On the day of the fire, February 20, 2009, Williams was trapped in the building when other workers had been able to get out. Williams had been with the company for 14 years and had formerly worked for the Rio Grand Railroad.
My condolences to the family for this tragic loss. Normally when an employee is injured or killed when in the line of duty, the family has a claim against the employee’s workers compensation carrier. In Utah, neither employees or their families can sue their employer. In this case, however, there very well likely could be a claim against the manufacturer of the machine that caught fire. Obviously, these machines are not supposed to do this. This raises the possibility that there was a defect in the machine that caused the lubricant to get as hot as it did, catching fire. There could also be a problem with the manufacturer failing to warn the company of the possibility that this kind of thing can happen. These kind of cases are called “product liability” cases.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 23rd, 2009 at 2:03 pm and is filed under Wrongful Death. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.