Many Florida residents enjoy eating ramen noodles. They’re quick and easy to make and best of all, inexpensive. However, one woman is not so pleased with the product. The instant soup cup caused her young daughter to suffer serious burns. She is now suing the manufacturer over its poor design.
The North Carolina woman filed the lawsuit in November. The incident occurred in May 2011, when the girl’s father prepared the noodles, which come in a Styrofoam cup. He left them on the counter to cool. The man’s nephew, 1-year-old at the time, accidentally tipped over the cup. The contents spilled onto the girl, who was standing next to the cup.
As a result, the girl suffered second-degree burns to multiple areas of her body, including her shoulder, chest, back and groin. She has already undergone several cosmetic procedures and skin grafts and will need reconstructive surgery in the future. The child still suffers from scarring.
The lawsuit is alleging that Maruchan Inc. and Toyo Suisan Kaisha are negligent manufacturers that designed the product poorly and included insufficient warning about the risk of tipping and burns. The manufacturers claim, however, that the father was negligent for using boiling water, setting the product near the children and failing to supervise the children.
Who should be held liable in this case? Anyone who has used Maruchan instant ramen cups know that they are not the sturdiest products created, but are they defective products? A jury will decide who was negligent. Many may think that the father should be responsible, since he was the one who heated up the product and left it unsupervised. On the other hand, others may feel that Maruchan is negligent for creating a dangerous product that so easily prone to tip over.
Many such cases are not easily decided. This is one reason why the experience of an attorney may go a long way towards helping injured parties receive the compensation they deserve.
Source:
Winston-Salem Journal, “Forsyth woman sues over spilled soup that burned toddler” Michael Hewlett, Jan. 17, 2014
