HSN Recalls Over 5 Million Steamers
The news broke at the end of May with several media outlets reporting. HSN (formerly known as the Home Shopping Network) was recalling 5.4 million handheld clothing steamers after more than 100 consumers reported getting burned by the devices.
Clothing steamers have been a common household appliance for more than a century so you would think manufacturers would have had enough time to perfect the latest models. Evidently this was not the case with Joy/JM branded My Little Steamer and My Little Steamer To Go handheld clothing steamers that were sold through HSN.com, on the HSN television network and by Amazon, Bed Bath & Beyond, Lowes, Target and Walmart.
The Joy/JM company is offering full refunds for steamers purchased from January 2018 to December 2020, and partial refunds for units bought January 2015 to December 2017. And if you bought the product before January 2015 you’ll receive a voucher for a replacement unit when available.
These steamers have been sold since 2002 ranging from prices as low as $10 up to $50 depending on how they were packaged. And even though millions of people used these devices, the fact remains that some of those people were hurt.
Now although we didn’t represent the injured in this class action suit which resulted in this massive recall, we do on an almost daily basis work to help those injured as a result of a defective product.
We’ve handled television tip over cases, defective children’s toy cases, and portable swimming pool cases. We have experience with electric can openers that have caught fire, pop cans that have exploded in the face of a child, and insect repellant that has ignited and caused third degree burns. We have also helped people who have been injured due to malfunctioning airbags, and electric car windows that would not role down and trapped the occupants of a car that flipped over in an otherwise minor crash.
Recalls such as with the hand held steamer fall under “products liability law” and can take time to wrangle through the courts. Sometimes it requires a class action lawsuit to force a manufacturer to pull a product and initiate a recall.
Products liability law involves the legal theories of strict liability, negligence, breach of warranty, fraud, misrepresentation, and violation of the deceptive trade practice laws. From a consumer standpoint, these cases generally concern whether appropriate warnings were given to users or consumers of products. Also involved are issues with placement of warnings, appropriate content for operating equipment manuals, appropriate design requirements, necessity for inspection or testing, compliance with statutes and regulations, and determination of recall or retrofit advisability. Product liability claims often involve heavy industrial equipment, tractors, bulldozers, cranes, lift trucks, oil field equipment, scaffolding, kitchen equipment, tires, pharmaceuticals, smoke detectors, medical supplies, bottling equipment, packaging equipment, chemicals and glues, fertilizers, tobacco products, automotive equipment, camping equipment, ski equipment, ski lift equipment, textiles, hand tools, consumer products, bicycles, surgical equipment, blood products, and food.
The Law Offices of David W. Holub, P.C., strive to represent each client aggressively and to obtain prompt and favorable results. We not only aggressively pursue our client’s best interests, but we remain accessible and attentive to our client’s needs.
The firm concentrates in personal injury cases of all types, medical malpractice, and wrongful death litigation. We work tirelessly to serve each client aggressively and with empathy, to communicate regularly and clearly, and to obtain prompt and favorable results, while adhering to the highest standards of excellence and integrity. Our team considers it a high honor to be called upon to serve our clients whom we often come to regard as our friends.
If you’ve been injured and are looking for answers we invite you to make use of the information on our website, and to call our law office at (219) 736-9700 to schedule a time to talk directly to us and see firsthand if we are the right law firm for you.
If you would like to learn more about personal injury law, we encourage you to listen to our Personal Injury Primer Podcast where we break down the law into simple terms, provide legal tips, and discuss topics related to personal injury law. And read “Fighting For Truth: A Trial Lawyer’s Insight Into What It Takes To Win” an entertaining and enlightening book pulling readers into the courtroom giving them a glimpse of the legal process and what it takes to win at trial.