Group of Three Law Firms Seek to Stop Death and Injury From Deadly Stoves

A group of three law firms -- Tinsman & Sciano, Inc., The Beckham Group and Stanley • Iola, LLP, seek consumers who purchased freestanding electric or gas stoves (also known as ranges) from Lowe's to act as representatives in a class action lawsuit to force Lowe's to make the way they deliver and install stoves safe. While electric and gas stoves may look heavy, they are actually surprisingly light. When the oven door is open, even a small child can place weight or exert enough force to cause the stove to tip over. Stoves that are associated with tip-over fatalities and injuries are freestanding or slide-in stoves, which have oven doors that swing downward, as illustrated in the picture below.

Most often, the victims of a stove tipping accident include either the very young or very old. Children can sit or climb on an oven door that they have opened or that has been opened by another. The accidents involving the elderly occur when they use the open oven door as support after losing their balance while bending over to use the oven. This can happen when an elderly person leans on the door to stand upright or leans on the oven door when cleaning inside the oven.

Injuries or fatalities occur in numerous ways. The stove itself (sometimes while still turned on) tips forward, gobbling up the victim inside the oven cavity. Due to their age, the victims are unable to lift the oven off of them, leaving them trapped in the oven. Victims of stove tipping accidents can also sustain catastrophic burn injuries when heated items slide off the cook top, dumping scalding liquids and food onto them. The stove, when it tips, can also strike the child or elderly adult in the head or chest, sometimes causing the heart to stop due to cardiac arrhythmia.

There have been hundreds of reported cases involving catastrophic injury or death as a result of inadvertent stove tipping. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Directorate for Engineering Sciences May 2011 study entitled Range Tipovers: An Evaluation of Range Stability, "The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) staff estimates that there are 1,700 appliance-related, emergency department (ED)-treated injuries involving appliance instability and tipover annually." This study also states, "As of March 2007, CPSC staff was aware of 143 incidents associated with range tipover that occurred between January 1, 1980 and December 31, 2006 (Stralka, Incident reports involving freestanding kitchen range tipovers, 2007)."

To prevent stove tipping accidents which may cause serious injury or death, stove manufacturers have chosen to supply anti-tipping devices, typically brackets, which require attachment to the floor or wall behind the stove to anchor the stove. These brackets are designed to prevent the stove from tipping over, while still allowing the stove to be easily removed without tools for cleaning or moving. A properly installed anti-tip device, according to stove manufacturers, will prevent the stove from tipping. An anti-tip device should be properly installed when the stove is delivered, set up and connected to its power source, such as a gas line or electric socket. In fact, manufacturer's installation instructions, Underwriters Laboratories, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and all building codes require the installation of the anti-tipping device as part of the installation of a stove to ensure the stove is safely installed. Examples of anti-tip brackets are shown below.

Unfortunately, our research leads us to believe that, for a number of years, when Lowe's delivered and hooked up stoves purchased by their customers, they failed to follow the manufacturer's installation instructions as they relate to the proper installation of anti-tip safety devices, leaving the stoves unreasonably dangerous and out of compliance with applicable building codes and safe practices. We are seeking persons who purchased stoves from Lowe's and had them delivered and installed by Lowe's personnel within the last 4 years to act as representatives in a class action, against Lowe's, seeking to force them to install the anti-tip devices that are a necessary part of ensuring a safe stove in your home.

In 1995, the partners of The Beckham Group referred a stove tip-over claim to Tinsman & Sciano, Inc., which has represented, and currently represents, numerous victims of catastrophic stove tipping accidents throughout the United States. As a result of their involvement in that claim, along with Tinsman & Sciano's past and current representation of victims of these horrific accidents, Tinsman & Sciano, Inc., The Beckham Group and Stanley • Iola, LLP, were inspired to bring a class action against Sears and to now bring a class action against Lowe's. In the case against Sears, a class of approximately 4 million households which had purchased stoves from Sears was represented. That case was ultimately settled with Sears agreeing to install the anti-tip devices free of charge for all class members who requested it, and to install anti-tip brackets on all new sales of stoves for a specified period of time. To read more about this settlement, go to:

http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/pressroomredirect.cfm?ID=2611

If possible, we want to prevent these accidents from ever happening. To talk to us about acting as a representative of a class action against Lowe's, you can call our toll-free number at 1-800-687-3333, or, if you prefer to contact us by email, please contact us today.

Based upon their successful resolution of numerous past and current stove tipping cases, Tinsman & Sciano, Inc., has the experience necessary to represent you or a loved one who has been seriously injured or killed by a stove tipping accident. To talk to us about a stove tipping accident, please call our toll free number at 1-800-292-9999, or, if you prefer to contact us by email, please contact us today.