The plaintiff, a 12-year-old boy, was walking beside his friend who was mowing his lawn. Suddenly, a rock shot out from under the lawnmower and struck the plaintiff in the left eye, resulting in permanent loss of vision in the eye.

 

Investigation revealed that the lawnmower was designed in such a way that grass clippings would be propelled into a bag alongside the mower. If the bag was not attached, grass and other objects on the lawn would be propelled with great force out the side of the mower. Thus, it was foreseeable that anyone on the chute side of the mower could be injured by the ejecta. It would have been a relatively simple matter to design a spring controlled deflector which would deflect the ejected matter downward if the bag was not in use.[3]

About the Author: James Swartz
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Mr. Swartz, our Managing and Principal Attorney at Swartz & Swartz P.C., is a nationally recognized and respected trial attorney as well as consumer advocate. His practice focuses on cases involving negligence, torts, products liability, medical malpractice, wrongful death, and other claims involving catastrophic injuries.

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