URGENT URGENT – U.P. Breaking News Fire Bulletin – Did “Mr. Coffee” cause a Dickinson County Fire 1-14-17 4 p.m. ET
Did Mr. Coffee spark a fire that destroyed an Iron Mountain home?
By Greg Peterson
U.P. Breaking News
Owner, News Director
906-273-2433
(Iron Mountain, MI) – The fire victims say a “Mr. Coffee” caused a blaze nearly two years ago that did over $100,000 damage to their Dickinson County home, according to a federal lawsuit recently filed in Marquette, MI.
The fire occurred at the David and Joyce Clement residence located at N4044 Pine Mountain Road in Iron Mountain, MI, which was insured by the State Farm Fire and Casualty Company.
A federal judge this week gave Sunbeam additional time to respond to the charges.
The Clements “owned a Mr. Coffee coffeemaker which was present at the home.” The suit states that an investigation showed “a fire occurred at the” home “which had its point of origin at the (Mr. Coffee) appliance.”
The coffee maker was plugged in but not in use.
Federal civil lawsuit charges:
Count 1: Breach of Implied Warranty in Tort
Count 2: Design Defect and/or Manufacturing Defect
Count 3: Breach of Warranty
Count 4: Breach of Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act
Count 5: Breach of Michigan Consumer Protection Act
The fire “caused extensive damage to the kitchen area, as well as significant smoke and soot damage to other areas” of the home. State Farm paid for the fire damage “less a ($1,417) deductible” with “total damages” caused “by the appliance fire was $106,179.28” all “but the deductible” was paid by the insurance.
The Mr. Coffee “was relatively new, having been purchased only approximately seven (7) months prior to the date of the fire,” the law suit states. The “investigation revealed that the fire” had no “other viable ignition sources” near the Mr. Coffee “other than the appliance itself.”
The residential fire at “was caused by a defect in the design and/or manufacture of the appliance,” the suit claims.
“Sunbeam sold it subject to the implied warranty in tort,” the lawsuit states. “Under the implied warranty in tort,” Sunbeam claimed “it was reasonably fit for its intended purposes.” The “intended purpose” of the Mr. Coffee “was not that it would burst into flames suddenly and unintentionally,” the federal suit states. The Clements “used the appliance according to its intended and foreseeable purposes”.
At the time of the blaze, the Mr. Coffee “was plugged in, though not in use, when it started a fire” inside the home, the suit states. “Sunbeam breached the implied warranty” because the “appliance’s electrical system was defective” State Farm “requests judgment” of “$106,179.28, plus interest, costs, attorney fees, and any other relief” deemed “just” by the court.
The suit accuses Sunbeam of “failing to design and manufacture the appliance in such a manner as to ensure that it would not cause an electrical fire” and alleging that Sunbeam “caused the accident.”
Sunbeam sold the Mr. Coffee with “a warranty” allegedly making the company “responsible to pay for damage caused by defects in materials or workmanship.
Sunbeam’s warranty was still valid the day of the fire because the Clements purchased it “less than seven (7) months prior” to the blaze that was allegedly “caused by a defect in materials or workmanship.”
“Sunbeam has refused to honor State Farm’s claim” … “Sunbeam has breached the warranty,” the lawsuit claims. Sunbeam was a “warrantor” and “supplier” under “the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act 15 U.S. C. A. §2301(5),”the suit states. State Farm through the Clements was a “consumer” under that act, the insurance company claims.
“Sunbeam violated the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act by failing to replace or repair” the Mr. Coffee or failed “to provide plaintiff with a refund for the appliance allegedly knowing that it “contained defects that could not be repaired.
The lawsuit alleges, Sunbeam committed “unfair, unconscionable, and deceptive methods and/or practices” including “representations that goods or services have sponsorship, approval, characteristics” and “benefits of quantities which they do not have.”
Sunbeam allegedly states “that (its) goods or services are of a particular standard, quality or grade.” The suit claims “gross discrepancies between the oral representations of the seller and the written agreements covering the same transaction” were allegedly made by Sunbeam thus violating “the Michigan Consumer Protection Act by breaching the implied and express warranties.”
The state version of the lawsuit is dated November 11, 2016 and has been “removed from 41st Dickinson County Circuit Court.”
Plaintiffs:
Attorneys for State Farm Fire and Casualty Company
David and Joyce Clement
Plaintiff State Farm Fire and Casualty Company is an insurance corporation organized under the laws of the State of Illinois with its principal place of business in Bloomington, Illinois
Nicholas J, Spigiel (P73526)
Kreis, Enderle, Hudgins & Borsos, P.C
P.O. Box 4010
Kalamazoo, MI 49003-4010
269-324-3000
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Attorneys for (defendant) Sunbeam attorneys:
Defendant Sunbeam Products, Inc. is a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Delaware with its principal place of business in Boca Raton, Florida.
Sunbeam Products, Inc.
40600 Ann Arbor Rd. E. Ste.
Plymouth, MI 48170
Kendricks, Bordeau, Adamini, Greenlee & Keefe, P.C.
Brandon J. Evans (P69576)
128 W. Spring Street
Marquette, MI 49855
(906) 226-2543
Kreis, Enderle, Hudgins & Borsos, P.C’
P.O. Box 4010
Kalamazoo, MI 49003
(269) 324-3000
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Upper Peninsula Breaking News by Greg Peterson 