Rural King seeks to dismiss a customer’s lawsuit alleging he injured his thumb while using a crossbow he purchased from the store.
Fred Schmidt filed his complaint on June 13 against Barnett Outdoors LLC and Waterloo Rural King Supply Inc.
In his complaint, Schmidt claims he was attempting to fire a crossbow on Jan. 15, 2014, when it allegedly malfunctioned and injured his left thumb.
As a result, he claims he sustained disfigurement, physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of earnings and medical expenses.
Schmidt alleges the defendant negligently designed, manufactured, distributed and sold the crossbow and refused to recall the crossbow it allegedly knew to be defectively designed.
Rural King answered the complaint on July 19 through attorneys Russell Watters and Bradley Hansmann of Brown & James in St. Louis.
Because the defendant does not do business in Madison County, Rural King argues that the case should be transferred to Monroe County
In its answer, the defendant also denied allegations against it and filed five affirmative defenses. It claims the plaintiff “knew the specific alleged product defect, understood and appreciated the risk of injury from that defect and nevertheless used the product in disregard of the known danger, and therefore, plaintiff was negligent and assumed the risk of injury.”
Rural King also claims the plaintiff did not use the product for its intended purpose.
Rural King also filed a motion to dismiss count VII of the complaint.
The defendant claims it should be dismissed from the suit because it “did not exercise any control over the design or manufacture of the crossbow and provided no instruction or warnings to the manufacturer relative to the alleged defect in the product which allegedly caused injury to plaintiff.”
Further, Rural King claims it did not have any knowledge of the alleged defect, and it did not create the alleged defect.
Barnett Outdoors answered the complaint on July 21 through attorneys Christopher Sheean and Joshua Bidzinski of Swanson Martin & Bell in Chicago.
The defendant filed 17 affirmative defenses against the plaintiff.
Barnett argues that any alleged damages were the “result of intervening or superseding acts or omissions of others.”
The defendant also argues that the plaintiff’s injuries were caused by his assumption of risk in choosing to use the crossbow “in a manner he knew, understood and appreciated to be dangerous.”
Further, Barnett claims the plaintiff misused the crossbow, causing his own injuries.
Schmidt seeks a judgment in excess of $50,000, plus court costs and any other relief the court deems appropriate.
He is represented by Jason D. Johnson of HeplerBroom in Edwardsville.
Madison County Circuit Court case number 16-L-808