Moro homeowners seek to voluntarily dismiss a lawsuit alleging their property caught fire when lightning struck near stainless steel gas lines.
Plaintiffs Christopher and Denise Carney filed the stipulation for dismissal on Sept. 23 through attorney David Taylor of Yost & Baill LLP in Minneapolis. They seek to dismiss the complaint with prejudice.
The plaintiffs filed a previous stipulation for dismissal on Aug. 23, which was deemed deficient by Magistrate Judge Rona Daly because it was not signed by all parties.
On Sept. 24, Daly said neither stipulation was signed by defendant Omega Flex Inc., but she agreed to dismiss the suit on Nov. 26 unless the defendant objects.
The Carneys filed their lawsuit on Feb. 23 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. They allege Omega Flex designed and manufactured a corrugated stainless steel tubing (CSST) called TracPipe used to distribute natural gas and/or propane.
The Carneys allege they purchased a home on Saint James Drive in Moro which had originally been constructed in 1860. The Carneys allegedly performed renovations between 2010 and 2012. As part of those renovations, the plaintiffs allegedly installed TracPipe CSST gas lines.
The plaintiffs claim Omega Flex learned prior to the renovations that the pipe installed in homes was “routinely damaged by direct and nearby lightning strikes.” In 2002, Omega Flex began the process of creating a new CSST product that could withstand higher energy levels associated with lightning strikes, the suit states.
Then in 2004, the defendant released the new CSST product in limited areas under the brand name Counterstrike I, which became generally available in 2005. The suit states that “Counterstrike exceeded TracPipe’s ability to withstand electrical energy by 725%.”
Omega Flex allegedly testified in May 2016 that its TracPipe was “unreasonably dangerous for its intended use and less resistant to lightning damage in comparison to its new Counterstrike product.”
On June 14, 2017, the Carneys claim a lightning strike occurred near their Moro home, which allegedly caused the CSST gas line to fail, resulting in a fire.
As a result of the fire, the plaintiffs allege they suffered damages in excess of $75,000.
The Carneys claim Omega Flex failed to warn them of the TracPipe’s dangerous condition, failed to adequately test the product before placing it into the stream of commerce and negligently designed the product.
Omega Flex answered the complaint on April 15 through attorney Terrence O’Toole Jr. of Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice LLC in St. Louis, denying liability and calling the alleged damages an “act of God.”
In its affirmative defenses, the defendant argues that it is not liable because the plaintiffs assumed the risks of a known danger and contributed to any harm incurred.
The defendant also argues that the utility of the product outweighs any risk associated with it and that “a reasonable person would not conclude that the probability and seriousness of harm caused by the product outweighed the burden or costs of taking precautions.”
Omega Flex argues that its product was designed and manufactured in accordance with the knowledge at the time. The product allegedly met or exceeded federal and state standards and regulations. There was no practical and technically feasible alternative design that would have prevented the alleged damages without “substantially impairing the reasonably anticipated or intended function of the product,” the answer states.
The defendant further argues that a third party contributed in part or in whole and may have “altered or misused the product or engaged in highly reckless conduct thereby constituting the sole or superseding cause of the alleged damages.”
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois case number 3:21-cv-209