A new Cuisinart pressure cooker lawsuit was recently filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Middlesex County. The plaintiffs are from New Jersey and blame the pressure cooker for serious injuries they and their young child suffered. They seek in excess of $750,000 in damages.
Pressure Cooker Fails to Work as Advertised
According to the complaint, the couple purchased the Cuisinart pressure cooker from television shopping network QVC on December 13, 2015. About three years later, on September 3, 2018, the mother was using the pressure cooker with her young daughter nearby.
The plaintiff claims that she was able to rotate and open the lid while the pressure cooker was still under pressure—something that should have been prevented by the pressure cooker’s safety features. As a result, both she and her daughter suffered from burn injuries.
The manufacturer—Conair Corporation, d/b/a/ Cuisinart—frequently touted the safety of its pressure cookers, stating they could not be opened while still under pressure. According to the owner’s manual accompanying each unit sold, the cookers are designed with a safety system that includes the following:
- Open-and-close lid safety device: The appliance will not start pressurizing until the lid is closed and locked properly. Once that happens, the lid cannot be opened if the appliance is filled with pressure.
- Pressure control device: The cooker automatically maintains the correct pressure level during cooking.
- Pressure limit valve: This releases air automatically when the pressure inside exceeds the preset temperature.
- Anti-block cover: This prevents any food material from blocking the pressure limit valve.
- Pressure relief device: When the cooker reaches the maximum allowed pressure and temperature, the cooking pot will move down until the lid separates from the sealing ring, releasing air pressure.
Despite the guarantees given in the manual, the plaintiffs were still injured when the safety features did not work as expected. The defendant’s representations about safety, the plaintiffs argue, are “not just misleading, they are flatly wrong, and put innocent consumers…directly in harm’s way.”
South Dakota Woman Files Cuisinart Class-Action Lawsuit
This is only one of many lawsuits that have been filed by plaintiffs who were injured when using their pressure cookers. In August 2018, for instance, a woman from South Dakota who was burned by a Cuisinart cooker filed a class-action lawsuit because the safety features didn’t work as advertised. The cooker beeped a signal that the cooking process was complete, but when the plaintiff went to open it, the cooker exploded. She suffered from burns on her arms, face, chest, and neck.
The plaintiff stated that Cuisinart knew about the product’s defects through online postings made by people complaining the cooker failed during normal use, yet failed to fix the problem or warn customers about the risks.
The plaintiff sought to represent all Cuisinart Model Number CPC-600 series and other Cuisinart Electric Pressure Cooker model owners in the U.S. and South Dakota.
Exclusively focused on representing plaintiffs, especially in mass tort litigation, Eric Chaffin prides himself on providing unsurpassed professional legal services in pursuit of the specific goals of his clients and their families. Both his work and his cases have been featured in the national press, including on ABC’s Good Morning America.
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