Won Summary Judgment in Wrongful Death Products Liability Matter

A Hodgson Russ team led by Benjamin Zuffranieri, Jr., Ryan Lucinski, and Patrick Hines won summary judgment in a products liability action venued in Texas state court. The client manufactured high-density lithium thionyl chloride batteries used to power subterranean drilling equipment. The decedent and his employer had misused the product by overheating it, causing catastrophic vent of the battery. The decedent’s estate claimed that the client’s product was defective because it failed to adequately warn of the dangers associated with overheating the product. The Hodgson Russ team successfully argued that the client’s product was a defect-free component of a larger battery assembly designed and built by others, and that the client fulfilled its duty to warn those intermediaries. The estate’s case against our client was dismissed in its entirety. At trial, the jury returned a verdict against the remaining defendants in excess of $25,000,000.