Mason Jar Inexplicably Shatters Prompting Product Liability Lawsuit

Case Overview

This product liability case involves a man who sliced his right hand while opening up a glass mason jar. He had purchased a set of 6 mason jars at a local wholesale retailer. The jars came with the metal lids and plastic seals already on. The plaintiff had previously opened 2 of the jars in the set without issue. On the day of the incident, the plaintiff was pulling the seal off the top of the jar when the glass shattered in his hand. An expert in consumer products safety was sought to inspect the remaining mason jars and provide an opinion as to whether or not they were structurally sufficient for their purpose.

Questions to the Occupational Health and Safety expert and their responses

Please describe your experience designing and/or evaluating the designs of consumer glass products.

I have 40+ years of experience in specialty glass manufacturing, which includes process equipment design, build, operation, and maintenance for products including consumer dishware, bakeware, and associated covers and glass accessories. I served as an expert witness in another case that involved a consumer bottle and cap root cause evaluation of an eye injury. In that case, I tested a sample set of the bottles and produced a formal root cause analysis report. I have also advised law firms on several sheet glass failure cases including door safety glass breakage, custom coated glass etching flaws, and curved glass breakage at a fun house.

How would you form an opinion as to whether or not the vials were structurally sufficient for their purpose?

I would examine the existing jars for symptoms of the most probable failure modes and consider any damage in handling, manufacturing defects, and design defects. Manufacturing defects can be determined through analysis of records and returns and recall from users and/or retailers and inspection of the jars for melting and forming defects. Design defects can also be further determined, if required, by requesting the product and mold design drawings and analyzing adequacy.

About the expert

This glass expert has over 40 years of experience in his field. He earned his BS from MIT and his MEng in Engineering with a focus on mechanical engineering and manufacturing from Cornell University. He is a licensed professional engineer in New York and holds certifications as a project management professional. Previously, he held a number of roles at Corning, Inc including senior project manager and technical manager. Currently, this expert serves as a glass consultant at a private consultancy, where he provides consulting services in regard to glass manufacturing, glass melting, weights and measurements, and glass fracturing.

E-036980

Specialties:

Occupational Health and Safety