GRETNA, La. (Legal Newsline) – A company that didn’t actually make a lighter that exploded and lit a man on fire can’t be sued as an apparent manufacturer.
Judge Hans Liljeberg wrote a Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal ruling, issued Sept. 22, that favored International Wholesale Club, which had sold 1,000 lighters manufactured by MK Lighter to a convenience store called Super Saver.
Frank Martin purchased one of the lighters at Super Saver and alleges fluid leaked out and caught fire when he used it in 2017. The product exploded and caused severe burns to his face and upper body.
He sued several companies, including MK as the manufacturer. But he also sought to pursue a claim that International Wholesale Club could be deemed a manufacturer because of its role.
“Mr. Martin bases this allegation on a page in the catalog of products International Wholesale Club published for its convenience store customers,” Judge LIljeberg wrote.
“The page at issue contains 24 separate boxes with pictures of different lighters and related products. Under each picture, there is a bar code and number, as well as a brief description of the product… Each picture also contains the initials ‘IWC’ in the top right corner of the box…”
This doesn’t mean IWC held itself out to be the manufacturer of the lighters, says the ruling, which overturns the trial court denial of summary judgment on the issue for IWC.
“(A)fter reviewing relevant caselaw, Louisiana courts do not generally consider the factual circumstances at issue when a distributor sells to another retailer higher up in the chain of sales in order to determine whether the distributor held itself out as a manufacturer,” the ruling says.
“(C)ourts review the circumstances at issue with respect to the person or entity consuming or using the product at issue. In fact, in Frierson, the court recognized that under the (Louisiana Products Liability Act), in order to find a distributor held itself out as a manufacturer, there must be some evidence that a consumer could believe the distributor was a manufacturer based on information included with the product at the point of sale.”