Defective Pressure Cooker Causes Severe Burn Injuries

Case Overview

This case involves a consumer from Indiana who was cooking with his pressure cooker when it exploded. The consumer was hosting a party at the time of the explosion and several people were in the kitchen when the pressure cooker exploded. The consumer suffered third-degree burns across his body and 2 other party attendees received second-degree burns from the incident. It was alleged that a design defect in the pressure cooker caused the release valve to build-up steam leading to the explosion. An expert familiar with the design of these products was sought to evaluate whether there was a design defect with this model.

Questions to the Mechanical Engineering expert and their responses

Please briefly describe your work with pressure cookers.

I served as an aerospace industry engineering executive before entering private practice in 2005. I am thoroughly familiar with electric pressure cooker design and defects, and serve presently as an expert on two class action lawsuits against a major pressure cooker manufacturer and on several individual lawsuits against that same manufacturer. I have conducted dozens of tests for exploding pressure cookers and have a pressure test chamber for explosion testing. I have also investigated and tested stovetop pressure cookers and served as an expert on one stovetop pressure cooker case.

About the expert

This highly qualified expert earned his BS and MS in mechanical engineering from California State-Fullerton and his PhD in civil engineering and structural mechanics from UC-Irvine. He is a professional engineer in the state of California and has 48 US patents issued in his name. Prior to starting his own engineering consulting firm, he was the vice president of engineering at Hartwell Corporation and the vice president of research and development at Textron Aerospace Fasteners. He is a member of several industry organizations, including the National Society of Professional Engineers and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.