EDWARDSVILLE — A hunter claims he shattered his leg when the ladder on his tree stand collapsed, causing him to fall to the ground.
Derek D. Wyhs filed a complaint Aug. 3 in the Madison County Circuit Court against GSM LLC and Rural King C Inc., alleging strict liability, negligence and breach of implied warranty.
According to Wyhs' suit, he was shopping for a tree stand at the Rural King store in St. Charles, Mo., in February 2020. He claims Rural King's customer service representative recommended the Big Game Guardian Tree Stand, which had a load capacity of 500 pounds. Wyhs, who weighs less than 200 pounds, claims that on Feb. 3, 2020, he was at the top of the ladder section of the tree stand. He claims he was coming down the stand without his hunting equipment when the ladder bent and buckled. He alleges he fell off the stand and onto the ground, shattering his leg and ankle.
Wyhs claims the stand was "unreasonably dangerous," improperly designed and defective and that the product lacked a warning about the risk of injury. He also claims the tree stand failed to have proper installing instructions and had "vague and ambiguous" drawing figures for recommended securing methods.
Wyhs seeks compensation of more than $50,000, trial by jury and all other just relief. He is represented by Tonya Genovese, Sara Salger and Ryan Webb of The Gori Law Firm PC in Edwardsville.
Madison County Circuit Court case number 21-L-000922